


Perfect World

by GintaxAlvissforever



Category: Loveless, Marvel vs. Capcom (Video Game), Ueki no Housoku | Law of Ueki
Genre: Accidental Death, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Mythology, Angst, Animal Abuse, Animal Transformation, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Canonical Character Death, Childhood Trauma, Clothing Damage, Crossover Pairings, Dark fic, Drama, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Genocide, Gore, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Hybrids, Implied Mpreg, Implied Relationships, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, Japanese Culture, M/M, Meet-Cute, Nudity, One-Sided Attraction, Original Character(s), Sexual Slavery, Slavery, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-09-28 16:38:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 47,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10138499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GintaxAlvissforever/pseuds/GintaxAlvissforever
Summary: They are the perfect species that were half-human and half of a random breed. They reproduce like insects, and have the power to surpass god. Heaven shunned them because of this, which resulted in Hell taking them all in and making them their slaves that no longer had any freedom. They were referred to as the Genome. After a family used their powers to allow their child to go the human world, most of the Genomes were executed. There are only six Genome left in the world. One fox, one horse, two angels, one peacock, and the perfect Genome that surpasses God in all ways and can destroy everything and that is the monkey king.





	1. Execution of the Perfect Species: Genome

**Author's Note:**

> Before I begin let me tell you one thing: This story has nothing to do with Hideyoshi despite him looking like a monkey. It's a Sano story. The rest will be explained as the story goes on. Finally, the events of the anime will be based on this story only I add the Genome species and the OC characters and the change of pairings.
> 
> And one more thing is that this is a very old story I'm moving onto AO3. I had told myself I wasn't going to put specific anime stories on here due to the lack of quality. This is a 10+ year story so there is a huge difference in writing. While I can clean up the grammar, the story overall won't be changed as much. 
> 
> One more thing to note is that this story is pretty much a retelling of the anime only in Sano's POV which includes an original backstory that we never got and diving into (or attempting) his character. Enjoy!

It was a dark place. Well, you don't expect Hell to be a _nice_ place now do you?

To put it to you simply, we are the Genomes. A species like no other that can overpower Heaven. We have the power to do what they can't. The power of healing, the seahorse effect, the power to destroy, anything you could imagine. It all depended on what type of Genome you were since you are born half-human and half of something else. It could be anything ranging from an animal to mystical creatures, angels and evil demons even if your parents weren't any of these animals. We wait for the day when a mother gives birth to the creature that brings Heaven and Hell together. The monkey king Sun-Wong.

The day that would come seemed impossible at the moment because of how Heaven treated us. They shunned us and called us monsters and finally they started to kill us one by one. The Hellions of Hell took this chance to 'save' us and bring us to Hell only to become their slaves. The excuse whenever one of us questioned them is, "We saved you from Heaven so you repay us with you obeying us every order."

The Hellions just wanted us Genomes to do their bidding and destroy Heaven for shunning them. They take their anger out on us and beat us every day in the worst way possible. However, we Genome's can heal ourselves very fast, so by the next day which would seem forever, our wounds would be gone. "You won't die easily." They tell us and even if we did die they would ask us, "Who would miss us?"

No one cared about us, so we Genomes lived for each other to survive the depths of Hell hoping that one of us could give birth to the child that would become Sun-Wong. A child that born with blond hair, gold eyes and a monkey tail. The child would have a heart of gold and would save us all from Hell.

That day finally happened. A mother gave birth to a boy with a monkey tail with blond hair and gold eyes. They named him Seiichirou Sano. The day would have been glorious if the mother and father's owner haven't seen the birth of their child. He hid in the shadows and overheard them saying that their child can save everyone from Hell, so he thought, "If this child can save them from Hell as they say then it can also destroy Heaven and kill all the humans." He finally made his appearance and told them that what they say is true then when he becomes the age of five that he would be used to kill off the humans.

The child's parents weren't going to allow that to happen, so they did something that resulted in the execution of all Genomes except the ones that escaped, or the one Genome that didn't go with the Hellions to begin with since she stayed in the Human World.

The mother and father of the child used all of their mighty powers to send their child to the Human World when that child turned five and was able to think on his own. Of course, after they gave the child their farewells they were killed on the spot by their owner who wanted to use the child to eradicate the humans. Those of us who saw the slaughter either ran away in fear, or went on a killing rampage and started to kill the Hellions even though the Genomes were outnumbered. A few of us took the chance to escape, but in the end only I escaped leaving my kid brother behind. I developed a cold-hearted personality because of that and decided that the next time we would meet I would hate him to hide my shame of leaving him in the hellish pit.

* * *

I saw the light of day again, but I wished my little brother saw it too. He prayed for the sun to shine down on us and in the end I was the only one who saw it. I decided that I would search for the other who escaped from Hell. It wasn't hard to find him since he was in front of a building with a cross a little out of the city. I saw a woman who wore all black pick him up and took him back to her house, which wasn't far from the building. That was all I remember before I decided that I should worry about myself since it seemed that the child had someone to take care of him.

* * *

The child opened his eyes to see himself in a small room. It was nothing like what he saw in Hell. The room was bright. The sun shined into the room he was in. Everything seemed so peaceful.

"I see you're awake." A voice said. It was calm and peaceful like his mother's voice.

The child looked up to see the woman who was wearing all black. Black was the color that his father wore. She had sparkly blue eyes and a kind smile that could have melted anyone's heart.

The child gave no response. He was told by his parents not to talk to strangers. The woman didn't seem to mind the silent treatment that he was giving her. She just had a set of clothes for him to wear which was a small white kimono. 

"You'll get a cold if you don't wear anything...even if it's sunny today." She told him.

The child still didn't say anything. The woman thought more about his wellbeing so she forced the clothes that she got out to him. After a few struggles, she was able to put the kimono on. That was when she noticed the monkey tail that was attached to him stuck out of the kimono.

"Guess we can't do anything about that." She told him. She proceeded to ask the child his name. "Do you have a name?"

"I won't give my name because it has meaning." The child told her.

The woman seem to have understood what he meant very well. This child took pride in his name if he had one. After all, she found him in front of the church that she attended.

"I see..." Was all she said before she left the room.

The child wondered what she was doing. He heard noised coming from one of the rooms. It sounded like water boiling.

The women came back with a tray that had a bowl of cereal and a few riceballs on the side of the tray. She put it on the table that was next to the bed.

"You don't have to eat it," she began, "but I thought you were starving since you look like you haven't eaten in days."

The child was about to refuse when his stomach began growling. His hunger took over as he reached over for the riceball and took a bite. It tasted like heaven. The food he used to have was nothing compared to the simple yet delicious meal this lady made for him, so he just had to have another one. He snatched another riceball from the tray and plopped it into his mouth.

"Is it good?" She asked the boy.

He nodded his head. In a few minutes all the food that was on the tray was gone. The women giggled. "Just like a monkey…" She mumbled as she took the tray away. She was impressed that the child didn't make a mess like most children do. She wondered who taught him not to be messy. She came back to see the child smile. The first she had seen from him all day.

"Now may I ask your name?" she asked hoping to get an answer this time since his mood was lifted.

"Sano Seiichirou." He told her.

"That's a nice name." She said with a warm smile on her face. "My name is Misora Hachimaki. Please to meet you. Do you have any parents?"

Sano frowned. "I don't think so anymore. They sent me here after they gave their farewells, and that's the last time I saw them…"

Misora frowned. That didn't make any since. Did that mean that his parents abandoned him or were they trying to protect him from something or someone?

"Are they dead?" She asked him. She knew it was a bad question to ask. Plus he might not know what the word 'dead' meant. He was only a five year old after all.

"I think they are…" Sano muttered.

Misora was shocked at the fact that he knew what the word meant and the fact that he didn't break down after thinking at what happened to his parents.

"I'll never be able to understand them..." Sano said sadly.

Misora questioned if he really was a five year old. He was more mature than a normal five year old. Well, of course he wasn't a normal five year old. He had a monkey tail and it didn't seem that it would be pulled of easily without harming the person wearing it. Maybe he was born like that.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize Misora-san, it's not your fault…"

"If that's the case..." Misora started changing her mood completely. "I'll take care of you even as if I am a nun!"

"Nun?" He asked himself.

"Someone who devotes themselves to God and someone who never will be married." She explained.

"Never be-"

"Don't worry about the details! From now on, I'm your new mother! _Even if I don't know the first thing about being one..._ "

* * *

One may have thought that a Genome could have been rejected as soon as he or she went to the human world. Not Sano. He was welcomed with open arms with a dotting mother, and soon he was introduced to kids his age that went to the church. Since they learned that he was the adopted son of Misora, the woman they adore with all of their heart, they easily became friends with him. One of them however was very observant of Sano and his three other friends. Kyoto a boy with orange hair that was very polite, Yusa, the brunette who was the opposite of Kyoto, and Hana the girl of the group with long purple hair. The quiet one was a boy named Koppu. He seemed older than the four, so he was the one taking care of them. His mother was always watching her adopted son and his friends from the sideline smiling.

There was only one time where Sano was not under heavy surveillance and that had deadly consequences. It was when he went to the hot spring with Misora and his friends when he was six years old where he foolishly decided that to go to the hottest part of the hot spring and check the water temperature. That resulted in the burn on his eye that never went away after the incident. Sano asked himself why it wasn't healing and Misora made it seem like because he was a bad kid that he had to live with the scar on his face, when it was a burn that wasn't going to heal for a long time. Even after the hot spring incident, Sano decided that he would still love hot springs.

A Genome couldn't of had ask for a life like this. Sadly all happy moments have to come to an end when Sano turned seven.

"Hey, Seiichirou!" His friend Hana began. "Why do you always have that tail on your butt?"

"I was born with it!" He answered.

That didn't make any sense to his friends. People aren't born with monkey tails, so he must be lying.

"Let's just see if that theory is true." Yusa told him as he was about to grab the tail. The tail moved to the other side very fast. Yusa tried to catch the tail, but the tail kept going to the other side. It eventually pissed him off. "That tail won't stay still!"

Sano sighed. "It has to move every now and then, right?"

Hana laughed at Yusa's stupidity.

"That's it! Now I'm mad!" he yelled as he continued making an attempt to grab the tail. The tail just kept moving until eventually he told Sano to get it to stop moving.

"I _can't_ stop it, idiot. It'll always move around like that and it won't let anyone touch it." Sano warned him.

"Well I _want_ to touch it, and it won't stop me!"

"You might get hurt if you keep trying Yusa-kun." Sano grumbled at his friend being hard-headed. 

His friend didn't listen as he continued to grab at the tail. Finally he managed to trick the tail, grab it, and pull on it so hard that it affected Sano's whole body causing him to yelp. "I guess it really is attached to you..." Yusa mumbled as he continued pulling on it trying to prove that his theory was correct.

"Stop it Yusa-kun!" Kyoto told him. "You're hurting him!"

"If I really was hurting him, he would fight back, right?" Yusa asked.

That was all it took for Sano to fight back. His tail glowed purple as it was hurting his friend's hand the longer he held onto it.

"See? A tail can't glow like that!" Yusa told his friends. He didn't realize that the tail was injecting poison into his whole entire body. He didn't realize until his entire body became numb. He tried to keep a grip on the tail, but all was futile as the poison was spreading at an alarming rate. He eventually let go and collapsed.

Everyone gasped. "Yusa-kun! What's wrong?"

Hana and Kyoto were about to run over and touch him when Koppu told them to stop.

"There's something wrong with him!" Hana yelled at the silent one.

"We need to get Misora! She'll know what to do."

The two obeyed him and went to go get Misora. Koppu went over to Yusa and Sano. He examined both of them. When Sano's tail was pulled, he defended himself by poisoning the attacker of the tail. Koppu guessed that Yusa was going to die in five minutes since it wasn't ordinary poison; it was venom.

"Is he going to be okay, Koppu-kun?" Sano asked his friend.

Koppu smiled and lied. "He'll be okay."

Soon Misora, Hana, and Kyoto came back to see if Yusa was okay. Misora was worried more about Sano though. The ambulance came as fast as it could and took Yusa to the hospital not telling them what happened to him.

Once the ambulance drove off, Hana and Kyoto started to cry. Misora comforted them. Sano didn't understand what happened to Yusa. All he remembered was that his tail was grabbed he was thinking of a way to defend himself.

Koppu went over to him and whispered something to Sano's ears which he will never forget.

* * *

The next day, the doctors announced that Yusa was dead. He was injected with venom, and that it spread through his entire body before the ambulance could get to the hospital. The only question was how he was poisoned. Misora didn't say anything since she has no idea how he was poisoned. With no clues, the police that was interrogating her left.

Hana and Kyoko knew it had something to do with Sano's tail. They thought he was the one who killed him by commanding the tail to do something to Yusa. They decided that they would never go back to the church again because their friend was murdered by their former friend and he was not being punished for his sins. 

Sano didn't understand why they left him. He did nothing wrong but defend himself. Soon people started leaving the church because of the incident and the rumor Hana and Kyoko had spread that the murderer was Misora's adopted son. Pretty soon no one came to the church to pray, and if they did, they would all blame it on Sano. The only people who still stood by Sano was Sano's dotting mother, and Koppu since all he said was that it was Yusa's fault for attacking Sano first. The pain that Sano had to endure never ended, but was about to heal if they didn't come back to haunt him.

* * *

On that day in December, Sano decided to dye his hair black so that he could forget about what happened that day. That was when he heard his former friends calling him names outside of his house. Sano couldn't take it anymore, so after he was done dying his hair completely black, he went outside to see why they were still cursing at him.

"Why are you still here?" Sano asked them which resulted in them throwing rocks at him.

"You're a murderer!" Hana shouted.

"You had to kill him, did you?" Kyoto asked.

"For the last time, I didn't kill him!" Sano shouted.

"You're the only one who could do something with that kill, you freak!" Hana cried.

"You're a monster! Monsters shouldn't be here!" Kyoto told him.

Sano couldn't take being called a monster or a freak anymore so he ran off away from the people he cared about so much. Somewhere where he could think it over.

When he finally realized what he should do about the situation, it was already midnight.

 _Misora-san must be worried about me._ Sano thought to himself. He was thinking in a tree all day. He jumped down the tree and raced him which was a bad idea.

When he got home he saw blood on the door. That wasn't a good sign. Not at all.

Something in Sano's heart was telling him not to go in, but the other side told him to find out if Misora was okay. He took the chance to open the door. The door creaked.

Sano looked inside to see blood all over the floor, all over the walls, and even on the ceiling. He saw his former friends Hana and Kyoto on the floor dead. They were slashed with a sharp object repeatedly. Hana was stabbed in the stomach, Kyoko was stabbed in the neck which resulted in some of his head being ripped off. Sano was traumatized at the sight. They were killed right before he arrived because the blood was still damp. Then it led to the question; where was Misora?

Sano ran up the stairs since he didn't see her body on the floor downstairs. His world fell apart what he saw upstairs. His dotting mother was on the floor dead. Her nun clothes were ripped to shreds as she was full frontal nude. Her body was beaten, bruised and cut all over. It was apparent that the killer assaulted her before finally killing her.

"Misora-san…" Sano was able to get out but it was so weak.

He went up to the corpse and started to cry for a long time. But no matter how much he cried, she wasn't coming back. You could be closer to God, but after what the killer did to God she might not be able to go where God is. She might go to Hell. Hell…where the Hellions were.

He noticed that there was a box untouched by the murderer. It had a bow on it and a note that was written today. He went over to the box but first read the note.

_**Sano, I don't have that much time left. I know that you didn't cause your friend's death, which is why I stuck by you. I don't know about Koppu, but you shouldn't rely on him anymore. God gave me an impression that he was planning to kill you from the start. I'm glad that Koppu isn't the one who killed Hana-chan, Kyoto-kun and me. If you're reading this, I want you to know that I love you and the ones that killed us called themselves the Hellions… and they wanted you for some strange reason. I won't tell them anything about you. You can reassure that. I'll get to the point. Inside the box is a present I wanted to give you for Christmas. I know you still love hot springs even after that incident, so I bought you this towel that would remind you of your love of hot springs and me. They're charging into the room now, so all I can tell you now is to be careful and not to let those Hellions catch you…I love you Sano even if these people kill me because of you.** _

_**Love now and forever,** _

_**Your foster mother Misora Hachimaki** _

Sano read the note again and again until tears started rolling down his cheek. He opened the box to see a white headband. He tied it on his head tightly. It fit perfectly.

He suddenly heard voices from downstairs. They were still in the house waiting for him to come back and do whatever they wanted to do with him.

The footsteps of the Hellions coming upstairs got louder and louder. Sano had nowhere to run. The only way out was through the window. He had to break the window and run into the city in the clothes he was in now, which was his usual kimono.

 _I guess I have no choice…_ Sano thought to himself as he used his tail to shatter the window. That made the Hellions run up the stairs into the room, but the time they got into the room where they killed Misora, Sano was already gone.

One of the two Hellions called on their cell phone telling their master that their target escaped.

"That's okay. Just continue to pursue him until you catch him. Bring him to me. I want him unharmed."

The two listened to their master and hung up.

* * *

He continued to run far away from the Hellions. He knew that they would be chasing him for the rest of his life. It might be impossible to survive.

He hid himself in an alleyway in the city he was in. It wasn't the safest place to be since gangs could attack him, but he didn't care. He lost everyone close to him. First Yusa, then Hana, Kyoko, and his foster mother, and finally Koppu. He remembered the note. Koppu was the one he couldn't trust…

It was a very cold snowy night (it is winter after all. Almost Christmas). Almost everyone was off the streets home with their families. All the stores were closed. It was hard to stay warm. That was when he noticed an animal rustling through the trash can. It was very hard to tell but the animal had a tail, and it was only looking for banana peels. It became apparent that it was a stray little monkey. Most people don't own monkeys anymore, so it was extremely rare to see a monkey on the streets. The monkey couldn't find any banana peels and eventually gave up. It was about to move away from the trash when it started to shiver uncontrollably. It might die tonight.

Sano moved from his spot and went over to the monkey. At first the monkey panicked and started to shriek loudly as if saying, "Keep away from me."

"I won't hurt you." Sano told it calmly as he patted the monkey on it's head.

The monkey calmed down when it realized that Sano was in the same position as it was. It allowed Sano to hold it tightly. Sano noticed the tag on the monkey's neck which was the name of the monkey and the gender. The tag read... " **Name: Sonson**

 **Gender: Female**."

"So your name is Sonson?" Sano asked the monkey.

Sonson perked up as if saying, "Yes". Sano decided to take care of the monkey not only because she was in the same situation of him, but because he wanted a companion.

"If you're homeless, You could always be with me. We're the same."

Sonson looked at Sano and smiled as it held onto Sano tightly. Sano smiled as he saw Sonson drift off to sleep. _I guess I won't be alone after all._

* * *

The next chilly morning, Sonson woke up Sano. Sano smiled at his little companion. He got up and decided to head in the direction of his home and the church to get some things that he didn't bring last night only to be stunned at the sight. Those Hellions burned down his house and the church last night. Sonson looked at her new owner and made a monkey noise like asking him, "Are you okay?"

"I guess…this means no turning back now…" Sano mumbled as he walked away from the torched house.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something to note is that I don't keep a word count on my older stories and that this story is unfinished for a reason, but all the chapters that I did write will be posted for your amusement. 
> 
> 1\. The seahorse effect is another way of saying male pregnancy that does happen in the real world. 
> 
> 2\. This character in canon does not have this hair/eye colors, but its to imply their importance as a Gerome.


	2. God Candidate Inumaru

After eight years of surviving on the streets and outrunning the Hellions and basically anyone who could harm a street rat and his monkey, Sano would be fifteen. You would think that Sonson would die by now, but this monkey is unique. Not only does she still look like the innocent young monkey that Sano found eight years ago but she retained her intelligence eight years later.

Additionally it was hard for him to hide his monkey tail. If anyone saw that monkey tail they would label him as a freak, so he tucked it inside his kimono, which was suicide since his tail hurt like hell when forced into a small space. He only let it out in the open when it was very dark and no one could see him.

It's amazing on how Sano was able to enroll in school despite not having the money to get in. (He got in by convincing the principal to enroll him in after he proved how intelligent he was. It's a good thing that the principal is a very kind man.) You could say that most people at his school didn't know that he lived on the streets despite being very smart, which was a good thing for him. After all, if they found out that he was a street rat, then they would spread rumors about the true fact and eventually the school would look at him differently. Because of this, he decided not make friends with anyone.

It was basically a normal day for Sano after school. Catching up with his studies while trying to find a place where no one from school would find him. He decided that he would stay in the park. That was when he met him…

"If 4+-9-5 and 10-10-100 then -71-31…"

"Uki…(2201...)" Sonson answered. 

"…I knew that…"

While Sano was working on his math problems, he didn't notice a man approaching him from behind. Sonson noticed as she made monkey noises to warn him that someone was approaching him.

"…I can't do these algebraic equations with your noises." Sano told her which made her squeak louder.

Eventually Sonson couldn't take it anymore and pulled on Sano's towel. That pissed him off greatly.

"Sonson, will you please-"

Because Sano was about to yell at his monkey, he turned around to see that someone was approaching him.  _I see why she was being so annoying!_

Sano got up and was about to bail when the man asked him politely to wait. Sonson was making jesters to not listen to anyone and bail, but maybe, just maybe he could wait.

"Who are you?" Was the first thing that Sano asked.

The man had a green hat had yellow colored eyes. He seemed to be in his early thirties, and he kind of looked like a dog. The man smiled politely and bowed slightly as he introduced himself. "I'm Inumaru Wanko, and I would like you to participate in the battle."

"-Squeak- (Don't do it Sano! He's trying to trick you!)"

She was ignored.

"Inu…?"

"Umm…yes…"

Sonson continued to squeal for her master to not talk to his Inumaru person, but eventually Sano pushed her off of him.

"My name is Hachimaki Misora." He lied. "What battle are you talking about?"

Inumaru then explained everything about the battle between middle school students. He then explained that he was a being from Heaven and wanted to submit him in the battle. He also explains about that he could give him a power that he desired. Sonson didn't buy it and stuck her tongue at him, which resulted in Sano scolding her.

"Give me a week to think about it." Sano began. "By the end of the week I'll give you my answer."

Inumaru nodded in agreement before Sano got his stuff and zoomed away with Sonson on his back. He could have sworn he saw something sticking out of Sano's kimono.

* * *

"Sonson what is wrong with you?" Sano questioned his monkey. She was pouting the whole time because he talked to someone, "I know your worried about me talking to people, but that doesn't mean you should be rude to them."

"Kii…ki (I'm just trying to…protect you…)"

"Tell me something I don't know."

Sonson's stomach began to grumble. Sano sighed. "If it's food you want, go get it yourself. I don't plan on stealing again today…"

Sonson frowned as she hopped of her owners back and went into the nearest convenient store. Sano saw her take some bananas, riceballs, and a water bottle and walk out of the store. The clerk yelled at people to stop the monkey. Once Sonson was over beside her owner's side, the clerk ran out of the store and saw him.

"YOU STUPID STREET RAT! YOU BETER PAY FOR THOSE!" The clerk shouted.

Sonson gave the food to Sano, did the monkey dance as a taunt, and fled with Sano who took a running start after the monkey stole for him. The clerk threw a tantrum as he threw a knife in his direction which Sano easily dodged.

"NEXT TIME YOU COME HERE, I'LL KILL YOU AND THAT MONKEY OF YOURS!" The clerk roared as he went back into his store.

* * *

Once Sano and Sonson were away from the people, they stopped running. Sano sighed as he looked at the food Sonson stole. He groaned. "I won't be able to redeem myself like I told my principal if this keeps up…"

Sonson did another monkey dance as she took one of the bananas, peeled it and began gobbling it down.

Sano's eyebrows twitched. "And you don't even care…"

He didn't notice that Inumaru was watching him. Inumaru at first was disappointed at he used his monkey to steal something, but when he heard the word 'street rat' come out of the clerk's mouth he debated whether or not it was a good thing to steal or not.

Sano noticed that there was another kid nearby. She was younger than him by at least four years. Her clothes were very dirty as if she slept on the dirt for weeks. She looked on the verge of dying after she fainted.

Sano took the second banana (that Sonson was holding onto) and the water bottle and ran over to the little girl to Sonson's dismay. Sonson decided to follow him after she saw him trying to help her.

"Uki…(You're too nice Sano…)"

Inumaru was amazed at Sano's generosity. Perhaps he might be a student that his teacher Kobasen requested. A student with justice. He was in the same situation as the girl, but decided that her life was more important than his.

"I better keep watching him. Just in case."

* * *

And that's what Inumaru did for the past week. Sure Sano and his monkey were stealing food, but they usually ended up giving the food to the homeless kids younger than him. Sano also helped any person he found who needed help despite him having to pass the stores that he stole from. The last person he saved handed him a bucket of water. The use…we will never know. All we know is that it had something to do with hot springs.

Finally, it was time for Sano's answer. While Sano was walking down the streets again (and possibly asking himself to get yelled at) Inumaru appears behind him and asks, "So Hachimaki-kun, have you decided if you wanted to participate or not?"

Sano was surprised of someone suddenly talking to him. He sighed when he realized that it was the man who told him about the battle. "Umm…that is…err…"

"-Grr- (Stop stalking Sano!)"

Sonson wasn't happy seeing him at all. She continued to glare at him.

"You've impressed me over the past week and I would like you to participate in the battle."

Sano frowned. He really didn't want to participate in the battle because if what Inumaru said is true then the Heavenly Beings would try to assassinate him for being what he was. Sonson knew this and kept shaking her head.

"About that-"

Sano was cut off as all these people began running in the opposite direction that he was facing. Shouting "Oh no" and "This is terrible!"

"What happened?" Sano asked one of the guys passing by him. He knew that either these guys would ignore him, call him a thief, or tell him what's going on. This guy decided to tell him what was going on.

"Umi no Ue on 3rd street!" Was all the guy said before he ran off.

Sonson started shrieking loudly pointing to the black smoke in the sky. Sano understood her and ran in the direction toward the black smoke. Inumaru followed since he didn't get an answer.

* * *

When the two reached their destination, the place where the man pointed out: a fire was in flames and was spreading rapidly. No one could be alive if the fire truck didn't come soon.

"Isn't the fire department here?" Someone asked.

"They've been delayed. I heard it will take another ten minutes." Another person answered.

"Someone! My son is still inside!" A women cried.

"Kii! Uki-uki! (Not good! Sano, do something!)"

Sano had to think fast. Either play hero and save the child or do nothing. Sonson wanted Sano to do something instead of just standing around. Sano sighed.  _Damnit Sonson! Encouraging me to do stupid things!_

Sano took the bucket of water and poured it over his head (and Sonson's) surprising everyone. He then proceeded to go into the building.

"You aren't seriously intending to go in there, are you? There's nothing but flames inside! You should wait for the fire department!" Inumaru warned.

No response. Sonson went (after shaking her fur of the water) inside Sano's kimono so she didn't have to do anything dangerous. Sano still proceeded to go inside the burning building.

"I understand. I'll go too!" Inumaru finally said.

"Don't come!" Sano shouted. "If you do, I'll refuse to participate in the battle!" He turned toward the dog man. "This is the kind of person I am. I don't want you involved in it."

That said Sano inside the building.

* * *

Sano through the burning building that was slowly collapsing. Sonson was complaining about how reckless Sano was being.

"I'm this type of person Sonson, and you're the one who suggested I do something."

"Oooooo…ki….(I know…but…)"

Sonson heard crying of a child and pointed in the direction of the room of where the child was. In the room, part of the roof collapsed onto the kid preventing him from moving. The fire was slowly burning the collapsed piece. Sano ran over to the kid and tried to lift up the fallen piece of the roof. He couldn't because the rubble from upstairs was on the fallen piece too and the fire was spreading too fast.

"I am this type of person!" Sano declared to Sonson's dismay as he continued to try to lift the piece off of the kid.

"What a coincidence…" A voice began as he decided to pitch in and help Sano as well. "So am I Hachimaki-kun."

It was Inumaru. Sonson only came out of Sano's kimono to glare at him. With the two of them, they were able to lift the piece high enough for the child to crawl away. Once the child was safe from that though…

"What are you doing here?!" Sano questioned Inumaru. He was very pissed off. "I told you I'd refuse to join your battle if you came!"

"Sorry, but…I can't ignore something when people's lives are in danger…no matter what the reason!"

Silence.

"I see…then…pick up the kid! We'll die here as well if we don't hurry!"

"Yes sir, Hachimaki-kun!"

Inumaru picked up the kid as Sano lead the way using his towel to move the flames away from them.

"By the way just to let you know." Sano began. "My name isn't Misora Hachimaki-kun. It's Sano Seichiro, and you best remember it since you're my God Candidate from now on, idiot!"

"-Pouts- (Dog man convinced him…)"

* * *

The two made it outside with the child as the mother of the child ran over to her son and hugged him tightly. The fire trucks were already there dousing the flames. Sano was long gone along with his monkey because he didn't like being the center of attention. Inumaru followed him.

"So what power did you want?" Inumaru asked him.

Sonson was giving all of these suggestions which Sano ignored them all although they might have been helpful in the situation the two were in at the moment.

Sano wanted to use the towel on his head for something. He didn't want it their just for decoration.

"Then I'll give you the power to change towels into steel." Inumaru told him as granted the power to him.

"Ooki? (What's the power that Inumaru gave you?)" Sonson asked her owner.

She was ignored again as Inumaru told him how to get his powers to look.

"The power to turn towels into steel!" Sano shouted as his towel on his head turned into steel.

Silence.

"Ooo….(Lame…)"

Sano hits his monkey in the face with his steel bar. She falls off his back with as a big bump appears on her head.

"It works after all!" Sano announced with a grin.

"Kuci! (Damn you!)"

"Sano-kun! You shouldn't hit your own pet like that!" Inumaru scolded.

"She said this power was lame, so I was proving to her that it wasn't." Sano said. The steel turned back into a towel.

"Sano-kun you'll lose your zai at this rate!"

"Zai?"

"Zai is the number of talents you have. If you attack a person who isn't a participant or an animal then you will lose your zai. If your zai number goes to zero then you'll disappear!"

"As in vanish?"

"Correct, but if you defeat a submitted student then you'll gain a zai, but because of this I forbid you to attack anybody with your powers even if they attack you first!"

Sano sighed. "Okay, okay. I get it."

"I'm serious Sano-kun. I don't need you disappearing before the battle even begins."

"I know! _In the end he only cares about becoming the next God._ "

* * *

A week passed since Sano got his powers. He was tempted to use them to get what he needed more easily, but he still obeyed his God Candidate. Sonson continued to tell Sano that Inumaru only wants to use him, but Sano ignored her.

If he really want to use me, then why did he help me when I told him to stay put. Justice like that is very hard to find these days…

Because Sano didn't listen to her, Sonson went into the same store that they stole from two weeks ago and grabbed another banana but was instantly stopped because the clerk was waiting for them.

"TODAY IS THE DAY YOU DIE YOU MONKEY!" The clerk yelled.

Sano gave Sonson the signal to get out of there which the monkey obeyed. It was very hard since the clerk was blocking the only door in the store. He had a knife in his hand that scared everyone that was in the store, but he didn't care. He just wanted the monkey and her owner dead.

Sano was debating whether or not he should use his powers or not. He wouldn't dare disobey his God Candidate, but his pet was in danger. _I guess I'll use that then._ Sano tail started to glow white. In five seconds the tail was glowing brightly. Sano swung his tail at the window causing it to shatter making the customers scream. A good diversion for Sonson to run away.

"I WON'T LET YOU GO MONKEY!" The clerk roared as he threw the knife not at Sonson, but at Sano because he saw the monkey tail. Sano barely dodged the knife, but it still managed to cut him on his right arm. The knife ended up hitting a car causing the alarm to sound.

"Let's get out of here Sonson!" Sano told his monkey.

Sonson agreed as the two of them ran off away from the sight. The police came and arrested the clerk for having a dangerous weapon and throwing it at a child.

"DAMN YOU STREETRAT!" The clerk yelled.

Sano and Sonson were far away from the crime scene by the time the clerked screamed at the top of his lungs. They didn't notice that four Hellions were stalking the Genome.

* * *

After Sano thought that he was far away from the crazy clerk, he stopped to catch his breathe.

"Sonson," he began after he caught his breathe, "we are not stealing from that store again."

Sonson wasn't listening to him as she was looking at the wound she got. "Uki…(Blood…)"

The Genome looked at his wound. "This is nothing. Now let's get out of here before-"

Sano was cut off as Sonson's ears perked up as she started sniffing the air. She hissed. Sano froze. The Hellions were back. He glanced at his surroundings. Not good. He was far away from people to witness the Hellions that were going to attack him soon. He was in an alleyway away from the town. He quickly tried to get out of the alleyway because it was the perfect place for them to find him, but it was too late. The Hellions appeared on the top of the wall. There were four of them this time.

"We finally found you Genome!" One of Hellions declared.

"It took a hell of a lot of time to find you!" Another one said.

Sonson continued to hiss as Sano backed away from them. He noticed that one of them was gone. Where did that one go?

"Hey boss! It seems like his body matured over the two years we couldn't find him!" The one that was missing proclaimed.

Sano gasped as he felt his kimono being lifted up. He cursed at himself for not wearing anything under the kimono. Sonson took action and scratched the Hellion that was touching her owner. The Hellion yelped as he jumped back.

"At least I got to see your underwear!" The Hellion said in a sarcastic tone, "And it's female underwear!"

 _God damn this tail! If I didn't have this tail then I would be wearing boxers!_ Sano thought to himself. "Thanks Sonson."

Sonson continued to glare at the Hellions. They all jumped down and cornered Sano. Sonson wasn't going to let her master get molested by these thugs. She was about to leap at the leader when Sano gave her the notion not to.

_I can't run away this time…I guess there's only one way to deal with these Hellions._

Sonson knew what Sano was going to do and jumped to the top of the wall that faced Sano's back to watch.

"All right, you guys are going down!" Sano declared.

The sudden outburst scared the Hellions because the Sano that other Hellions that chased him described him as a quiet Genome that wouldn't fight back and relied on tricks.

The Hellions were so shocked that they didn't know what was going to hit them next. Sano kicked the one that saw his underwear in the head first. He was sent flying into the wall. Sano then punched the one near him sending him flying into the wall.

"What the hell?!" The leader of the four Hellions yelled.

Sano's tail glowed white again. In five seconds, it was at it's brightest. He hit the next Hellion with his tail sending him backwards and into the dirt. Sano glared at the leader. He grabbed the leader by his arm and twirled him in the air. He then threw the Hellion into the ground. None of the Hellions were left standing.

Sonson clapped for her owner's victory over the Hellions.

"I really can do it…after all…" Sano managed to get out. He smiled. "That's a relief."

He was about to leave as Sonson was about to jump onto his shoulder when a hand grabbed Sano's leg making him fall to the ground. Sano turned his head stunned. The leader of the four Hellions wasn't out cold yet.

"You bitch!" he cursed in a low tone that scared Sano.

The other three Hellions were getting up as well.

"Now you're going to pay!" He snarled in a dangerous tone as he flipped Sano over on his back. He grabbed Sano's arms to prevent him from escaping.

"STOP IT! LET ME GO!" Sano screamed.

Sonson jumped off the wall and landed on the leader's head trying to force him to release her owner. He proved to be stronger as he used his free hand to punch her off. Sonson landed on the ground. She proceeded get up when the perverted Hellion stepped on her tail. She shrieked as she struggled to get away.

"SONSON!" Sano called out.

The perverted Hellion began beating up on the poor monkey that couldn't even defend itself.

"STOP HURTING SONSON!" Sano demanded which resulted in the leader slapping him on the face.

"You shut up. After two years of chasing you, we four Hellions out of the 200 that were sent to bring you back have finally caught you, and we're not going to let you go." He said in a sinister tone.

Sano panicked. He couldn't use his tail to attack the Hellion because he pinned it down with his leg. There was no way he could fight back. _Someone, anyone, help us!_

His calls were heard as a rock was thrown at the Hellion leader. It hit him head on really hard.

"Who the hell threw that?!" he asked. The other Hellions looked at him like he was crazy. Sonson squeaked as she pointed at the top of the wall. Someone was standing there. The monkey squealed in delight when she saw who was it is.

"You need four Hellions to take on one child and his monkey?" The man asked as he had another rock in his hand. He squished it in his hands as the rock became sand. "Why don't you pick a fight with someone your own size?"

"Uki-ki (Dog man!)"

Inumaru came down from the wall and punched the Hellion leader off of Sano. All the Hellions then attacked the God Candidate. Inumaru fought them with ease. Eventually all four Hellions were on the ground beaten and bruised. Inumaru had barely any scratches on him.

"The Heavenly Beings will pick you up for showing your face in the Human World and for the sin you Hellions caused over the years." Inumaru told them.

Inumaru then walked over to Sano to make sure he was all right. "Are you okay?" 

Sano didn't respond as he was looking at Sonson's injuries. They weren't serious, but he still healed them with his healing powers. He then turned his attention to Inumaru and nodded his head slowly.

"Are you really okay?" Inumaru asked again more serious.

Sano looked at him. He looked like he was ready to cry. "…No…I haven't for eight years…"

Inumaru examined Sano. Sure enough. He was in pain. Too much pain for a child his age to bare. He might look tough on the outside, but on the inside he was always crying. He took Sano in his arms and hugged him. "Everything's all right now Sano-kun. Those Hellions won't harm you as long as I'm with you."

"It doesn't matter." Sano began. "I'm a Genome. Genomes are hated by both Heaven and Hell and even in the Human World. If I stay with you, you'll just turn me into those Heavenly Beings! They're no better then the Hellions!"

"Sano-kun, I-"

"Let go of me!"

Sano couldn't take it anymore. He started to cry. All the pain he held in for eight years was let out. Sonson couldn't bare to see her master in pain and wanted to comfort him, but she couldn't. Inumaru was the only one who could comfort him at the moment. Inumaru didn't let go. He just held him tighter like a father would for his son.

"I won't turn you in Sano-kun. I'll protect you from both Heavenly Beings and Hellions. I promise."

Sonson smiled. She thought that she could really put Sano's care in his hands. After all, she failed to protect her owner.

* * *

A few days after the incident, the Hellions were already in Heaven, ready to be executed for harming a 'human' child. Inumaru became more protective over Sano. Sano became more opened to Inumaru because of being rescued from the Hellions. Sonson was finally able to trust him.

Sano finally decided that he would show Inumaru his favorite place and tell him what his dream was, so in the early morning (before sunrise) he asked Inumaru to come with him somewhere.

That place was somewhere in the mountains so the two had to climb up it. Sonson didn't have to do anything as she just had to hang onto her owner's shoulder.

"What did you want to show me that's so high up Sano-kun?" Inumaru asked after twenty minutes of climbing.

"Oooooki! (Shut up and keep climbing!)" Sonson spat.

"You're see when we get to the top…" Sano mumbled. "You're not tired yet, are you?"

"I am not tired!" Inumaru shouted as he managed to keep up with the Genome.

Sano smiled as he continued climbing.

Once the two got to the top, the sun was rising slowly yet surely. There was a cherry blossom tree near by which Sonson climbed up yet. She searched for bananas that might have been hanging on the tree. There were none. Sonson sat on her owner's shoulder as soon as he sat down on the grass.

"Nice view isn't it?" Sano asked his God Candidate. "The winds nice too."

"Umm…"

"I'm sure there are hot springs somewhere in these mountains. The place has an incredible view and it's a great place to relax. The best possible hot spring."

Sonson was deep in thought thinking about the hot springs. Where there were hot springs there are monkeys just like her.

"My dream is to make a hot spring resort where people from all over the world can relax. So when I get that blank talent that you mentioned about, I'm going to turn it into the hot spring digging talent." He smiled. "Sorry I dragged you all the way out here Wanko, but I wanted you to see my dream."

Inumaru smiled. He had just seen another side of Sano. He was confused however. Out of all the things he could use the blank talent for, he chose hot springs. Why didn't he use the blank talent to pay off all for all the things he stole for the past eight years?

While Sano and Sonson were enjoying the view as Inumaru was thinking of Sano's choice, they didn't notice somebody spying on them from behind. He was wearing all black, but he seemed to be another Genome because of his horse tail. Then again, the person could have been cosplaying. He had a cellphone in his hand and was reporting the situation to his owner.

_"Let him be. With a God Candidate near him all the time, it will be impossible to get near him. Wait until the third round and then we will proceed to plan."_

"Yes, master."

_"While you're at it love, you should search for that angel Genome that decided not to go with all of the other Genomes many years ago."_

"Yes, master."

_"Finally, don't let yourself be seen my love. It will ruin the plan when the time comes."_

"Yes, master."

_"One last thing, I love you my sweet."_

"I love you too master."

With that said the Genome hung up his phone. He glanced at the Genome and the God Candidate and smiled evilly. "You will belong to my master soon enough along with that angel Genome."

Once he mumbled that, he disappeared quickly before Sonson detected that someone was spying on them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Sonson has her own language. (Monkey language) She is very intelligent despite being a monkey. The reason she's smart will be explained much later. By the way, that is the right answer.
> 
> 2\. Sano is the only one who understands Sonson…well Hideyoshi will understand some of the things she's saying. Most of the time, when someone asks him what Sonson is saying, he'll translate for her. BTW in the story, Sano sucks at math which will prove to be funny later.
> 
> 3\. In the video games, when Sonson defeats her opponent, she does one of the four cheers.  
> \--> She puts her Nyo-bo on her back and taunts you. This is what Goku does in the Saiyuki anime.  
> \--> She juggles five peaches, and then eats them all in one gulp. She chokes on the last one.  
> \--> Same thing only she juggles four peaches and one monkey ornament. She gulps the peaches down, but the ornament falls on her head resulting in her choking on the peaches.  
> \--> She does the monkey dance three times before posing a very silly face. The monkey dance is when she shakes her whole body poses, shakes body again, poses, shakes body one last time, and then poses one last time. It is very cute but most people would find it insulting.
> 
> 4\. When you think of the alleyway with the walls, think of the anime Fushigi Yugi when Miaka was cornered by thugs and is later rescued by Tamahome. I got this scene from this anime by the way.
> 
> 5\. Something I find amusing. The reason why Sano doesn't wear boxers in this story is because he had a terrible time running with them because if his tail is uncomfortable then he will be too. Female panties is what the tail adjusts too. What I also find weird as in some flashbacks in the anime Sano isn't wearing anything under the kimono and in others he is. There was one episodes where Sano wasn't any pants under his kimono and I'm like 'Don't you wear anything under that kimono Sano?' Cause if he didn't…I see a lemon between Kosuke and Sano.
> 
> 6\. A total of 200 Hellions were ordered by Sano's owner to capture him. The one's that killed Misora, Kyoto and Hana are two different Hellions. Those Hellions will appear again.
> 
> 7\. I added a new to the battle in this story. The only time a God Candidate can fight is when they are fighting a Hellion. Anybody else results in them going to hell.
> 
> 8\. There are two types of Genomes, but these are very rare. The Healer and The Enchanted. The Healer can heal wounds of others, but not his or herself. The Enchanted can heal his or herself, but not others. The Healer is for positive Genomes while The Enchanted is the negative Genomes who kill people.


	3. The Encounter

A few days after Sano showed Inumaru his and Sonson's favorite place, he and Sonson were looking for another store to steal from. In the end they couldn't find a store that had very bad security. Eventually they gave up and started looking for a hot spring with Sano's powers.

While doing that they pass by two people that attracted Sonson's attention. One was a girl with blue hair and pink glasses. The other looked dopy with green spiky hair. The girl was suspicious of them as she pointed to them. Sano walked right passed her, but Sonson kept glaring at the girl. She heard a "I'm glad he's not one," from the girl. Whatever that meant she was very relieved. Very suspicious.

When Sano turned around the corner, he couldn't hold his breath any longer that resulted in the steel turning back into two separate towels.

"I guess I won't find a hot spring around this small town…" Sano mumbled.

"Ooki! (Don't give up!)"

"You're right I won't give up!…But only being able to use my power while holding my breath is quite difficult…"

Sano took in a deep breath. The towels turned back into steel as he continued his search.

* * *

After an hour of trying to find his hot spring, he gave up because there was a limit to how long he could hold his breath. Sonson asked him if they could find something to eat. Sano wasn't listening as he was paying attention to a little girl that was climbing the chimney. She made it to the top but then couldn't climb back down.

"Kiiiii! (You need to help her Sano!)" Sonson told him.

"I already know that Sonson."

With that said he rushed over to the little girl and slowly began climbing the chimney. Other people started gathering shortly.

* * *

Ai Mori was having a bad day. Her friend Kousuke Ueki was so irresponsible when it came to his Zai. To make matters worse he was put into the battle against other students to fight one another. They weren't told what the purpose of all the fighting was. What Ai knew for sure was that she couldn't allow anyone to attack Kousuke no matter what. That's why she had a samurai like sword (made of wood) in her hand to attack anyone that looked suspicious or might have powers.

She thought that the boy with the monkey passing him was one of the power users but  he walked by them without even acknowledging their presence (the monkey did of course). Kousuke called him weird but he had no right to call anyone weird given his odd personality. For some reason when he passed by she had this weird sense of women intuition coming from her. She didn't know what it was and didn't think about it at the time.

An hour later of walking around they noticed a crowd gathering in the area with the big chimney. The two rushed over to see what was going on. Apparently, a girl was on the chimney and couldn't climb down and the boy that they saw earlier was climbing up the ladder to save her.

"He looks like a middle school student." One of the spectators whispered.

"He looks awfully familiar..." Another one said.

The boy told the girl to hold on and not to look down. In the end she looked down…

"Squeak! (She's falling Sano!)" Sonson squeaked.

"I know that!" Sano shouted as he wrapped the towel around his feet. He then opened his arms wide ready to catch the girl. He does, but he ends up hitting his head on one of the steps really hard.

"Itai…(Ouch…)"

The crowd gasped as the boy and the little girl were okay despite the concussion that the rescuer was probably suffering from hitting his head.

 _That was dangerous,_ Ai thought to herself, _One wrong move and they both could have died, but how can he wrap his bandana around his ankle and do that? That guy might be..._

Ai looked for Kousuke. She realized that he ran off somewhere.

Sano was able to get down from the chimney with ease thanks to his monkey like movement. Sonson was scared to death because he was being so reckless with his tail. If anyone saw it, what would they think?

The little girl slowly opened her eyes.

"Oh, you're awake." Sano began. He still had a big bump on his head. "Climbing that chimney is dangerous."

Sonson glanced at the crowd. She noticed that girl with the pink glasses. She was glaring at Sano. The only thing the monkey could do was glare back.

The little girl was still looking around for something.

"What's wrong? There is no need to be afraid now." The Genome told the little girl.

The crowd then turns their attention on the boy with the spiky green hair. He was covered in dirt. The blue haired girl asked where he disappeared to.

"Inside the chimney…" he answered.

"What?! Inside the chimney?!"

Spiky went over to the little girl and handed her something that she forgot in the chimney. The girl smiled with delight as she accepted the item which was a bean bag. Her parents came shortly and thanked him for finding the bean bag. The little girl thanked him. Everyone forgot about Sano who risked his life for her.

"Ki-ki…(They forget about us as soon as they learned that she was safe…)"

"It's okay. _After all it would be strange for a little girl to climb the chimney for no reason. And this guy had that time to figure out that reason."_ Sano got up and asked the boy. "Hey you, what's your name?"

The girl prevented the boy from telling his name to the Genome. "We don't need a thank you! Come on Ueki, we're leaving!"

She drags him away from the crowd, but not before he was able to tell Sano his name.

"Ueki Kousuke!" He told him.

Once the two were gone, most of the spectators left the scene.

"Ki! (Stupid girl!)" Sonson hissed.

"Ueki Kousuke huh? He has a kind heart." Sano said as a matter of fact statement. 

Sonson was confused. At first she thought Sano was talking to her, but he was talking to himself more than anything. She looked at her owner's expression to see that he was smiling. This smile seem different from the rest. SonSon didn't like it one bit.

"Ooooookkk…(I feel love in the air…)"

Sano didn't seem to catch that. His mind was thinking about the boy named Kousuke Ueki who was more than what he appeared to be. 

* * *

Somewhere in Heaven, a God Candidate at the age of 40 dragged a girl that appeared to be in her teens to the room where Kami-sama and his assistant awaited. The girl had pink hair and blue eyes and wore a maid outfit. She had mini white wings on her back that were very hard to see.

"Stop struggling you Genome! Once I bring you to Kami-sama, your suffering will end." The God Candidate told her.

"No, **_desu_**! I don't want to die! I left my children in the Human World!" The Genome cried.

The God Candidate slapped her on the face to shut her up. "Genomes aren't important to the world. All that's important is the prizes you get for capturing a Genome. I heard there was another Genome that was participating in the battle and his God Candidate decided not to turn him in. Well I'm not like him, so after I turn you in, I'm going to go capture that Genome as well."

"How could you?!"

"Because all of you Genomes are gullible. For you to fall for my trick by me saying that anyone could participate in the battle proves it."

They finally made it to the room. Kami-sama was flirting with at least five beautiful women. His assistant noticed the God Candidate and whispered something to Him. He then excused the ladies so he could talk to the God Candidate.

"I brought a Genome like you told all of us God Candidates to do." The God Candidate stated as his reason for intruding on Kami-sama's fun.

The God Candidate pushed the Genome to Kami-sama for him to examine her. Him grinned evilly. "She's a beauty! Beauty is hard to find these days as much as justice."

"Kami-sama…" God's Assistant mumbled not amused that his God was distracted by the Genome's beauty instead of pointing out the obvious.

"I'm glad you like her. It was hard enough to even find a Genome, but her angel wings gave her away. Now I would like the award like you promised anyone who found a Genome and brought to you."

Kami-sama looked at the God Candidate like he was crazy. "What reward are you talking about?"

"The money! You promised us a fortune of it if we found a Genome!"

Kami-sama yawned before answering. "Oh that. There is no such thing for people like you. Now be gone."

The portal to Hell opened up underneath the God Candidate. It scared him greatly.

"Kami-sama, how could you! You said that if any of us brought a Genome to you that you would award us with-"

"I lied, now to hell you go!" Kami-sama said quickly.

The God Candidate fell through the whole that went to Hell. It closed up.

"Some people are so selfish." Kami-sama said with a sigh. He turned toward the Angel Genome. "Anyway you will be my second assistant from now on."

"NANI?!" God's Assistant shouted.

The girl was debating whether or not to become his assistant or not. She thought that he was a heartless person like her God Candidate. Nice people were hard to find ever since she lost the one she loved due to a sickness. She finally answered. "…Yes… _ **desu**_ …"

"Do you have a name?" He asked.

"…Kagura Kurumi."

Kami-sama smiled. "A cute name for a cute girl. A young girl like you is just my type."

"I'm sorry Kami-sama…" Kurumi began, "but I'm already married…and I'm actually thirty-three years old." 

That stunned the two. "You're how old?!"

"I'm thirty-three." She repeated. "Only middle students were suppose to participate in the battle, but being the person I was...I fell for what the God Candidate said and joined the battle. I ended up breaking the rules, and now I have this power that will never go away… ** _desu_** …"

Kami-sama frowned. This was a problem. When a Genome participates in a battle (which is rare) once they gain a power they have it until they die. That's just the way Genomes are. Knowing how heartless her God Candidate was, she might have a power that kills people. She doesn't look like the person to murder people on a whim. Genomes can have up to three powers. One that they have from the start and two that they can get from their God Candidate's even though it's against the rule.

"I'm sorry that you had to go through that…" He mumbled.

Kurumi started to cry. "It's not that I want to battle. It's the fact that I was forced to leave my children behind, _**desu**_! I don't think that boy I entrusted them with would take care of them after I almost killed him."

Kami-sama had nothing to say to her. He couldn't bring her back to the Human World when another God Candidate would re-capture her. All Genomes are safe in Heaven and when the next God is chosen, he hopes that the new God would try to save the remaining Genomes that are still alive. After all he heard from someone that their were only six Genomes left in the world. A fox, a horse, two angels, a peacock and the monkey king that could destroy everything if he wanted. He had one of the angels so now he hoped that the other Genomes would be all right. Until then he would protect Kurumi with his life.

* * *

In the Human World there resided another Genome. It was the fox Genome that appeared to be in his late teen years. He was a redhead that had patches of purple in it, ruby eyes, red fox ears that were on his head, and two fox tails. He also had fox whiskers. He was attacking his God Candidate because he found out that his God Candidate was going to turn him into Heaven. He knew that Heaven was a bad place to be because of what he had learned while in Hell. When he was in Hell, he was one of the few surviving Genomes of the execution after the two parents decided to let their Genome child go to the surface. He was told that Heaven wouldn't help them because they were just as bad as they were. That made the fox Genome want to escape from Hell to the human world. The humans treated him better than the Heavenly Beings or the Hellions. He decided that he would live in the Human World, and this God Candidate was going to take that away from him. He wouldn't stand for it. At the moment the God Candidate was at the mercy of the fox Genome.

"You rat bastard! How dare you turn on-" His God Candidate didn't get to finish his sentence as the Genome kills him with his two tails that acted like scissors. The tail cut him in half.

"You just wanted to bring me to Kami-sama. Kitsune doesn't bide it at all!" The Fox Genome said in a rather cheerful but rather dark tone. Talking in third person with the sinister tone spelt trouble. "By the way I'm a fox."

Kitsune then transformed into a fox and erases the evidence of him ever killing someone by eating the God Candidate's corpse. Once he was done, there was nothing but bones that he threw away into the nearest garbage can. He turned back into his half-human form.

"That tasted very bitter…" He complained. "Oh well. The next person that tries to send me Heaven or Hell will be my next meal." 

He began to walk away, but then stared at the sky.  _Anikii_ _, where are you? Did the Hellions get to you? H_ e asked himself before continuing his stroll.  _If they did then I'll get you back._

* * *

In the park, Sonson managed to steal something from another store resulting in the clerk calling the police to try to catch the thieves. They manage to get away ten minutes later.

"Sonson, you really have to stop this…" Sano told his monkey, but his stomach didn't think that as it began growling.

"Chi…(Right…)"

Sonson stole the usual: Bananas for her, riceballs and a water bottle for Sano. As the two started eating, Sano's God Candidate came and scolded the two for stealing again.

"I can't help it if I'm a street rat." Sano told him as he finished eating half the riceballs. He decided to save the rest for later.

"But you could ask people to-"

"That's against me, Wanko. Sorry." Sano said quickly.

"Sano-kun…" He mumbled. He knew Sano wouldn't beg for people to ask him for food nor would he steal it from other people that were eating them. He would only steal it from food that didn't belong to anyone.

"So basically the battle begins now?" Sano asked to change the subject.

"That's what Kami-sama said." Inumaru answered.

"All right! Let's go find Ueki!" Sano cheered as he finished drinking his water and tossing it to the nearest trash can.

"Kii…(I knew it…)" Sonson mumbled.

* * *

Sano didn't have the slightest clue where to find Kousuke and his annoying friend, so he relied on Sonson's intuition to find them. Sonson wanted to continue eating, but her master asked her to help him search. She couldn't refuse her master even if she wanted to. He seemed so innocent but he had to suffer as much as she did.

She pointed in the direction of an abandoned gym. That was probably where the two were. However she made a hand gesture that indicated that there was a battle going on.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Sonson sighs as she holds onto her owner's towel as Sano dashed to the building at full speed.

* * *

Once the two sneaked inside the building they saw what was going on. Kousuke was battling another middle school student called Taira that had the power to turn water into fire. Kousuke's friend was on the floor unconscious. Fire chestnuts were aimed all over the place thanks to Kousuke's attack. It hit the middle school student on his right eye and almost hit them as well if Sano didn't use his towel that turned into steel to block it.

"Ahki! (Watch where you're aiming!)"

Sano turned the steel back into his towel and tied it back on his head, _When Ueki's tree powers are combined with Taira's trees, They seem to have an advantage. It's amazing how he used fire to launch a fire chestnut. Ueki Kousuke, you're quite the guy._

Sonson looked at her owner and sighed. "Kii…(It's love I swear it!)"

On the battle Kousuke seem to have been hurt during the attack but it turned out that he was upset over the fact that his chest nut was too burnt to be considered edible. 

The attack only made Taira madder. Taira attacked Kousuke  with a fireball attack as he started to gain power. He fired more fireballs at top speed as Kousuke continued to dodged them until he finally got hit in the head. The rest of the fireballs then continued hitting him on the head like a soccer ball. After the attack Kousuke fell to the ground.

Taira mocks him. "FINALLY YOU FALL DOWN! JUST STAY THEIR UNCONSCIOUS! That means you lose and it's game over! Your tree powers will be gone and you'll return to a regular person."

Sano had a serious expression on his face.  _Ueki's first opponent just had to be this guy. He must have bad luck. From what I've seen, Taira's powers is in the high level area. You also attacked him so I fought you had a chance, but I guess not and you did very well._

"Ki-ki-ki! (There's no point in watching this loser if he loses to someone like that!)"

The two were about to leave when Taira gasped. They turned their attention back to the battle shocked to see Kousuke standing up again.

_NO WAY! He stood up?!_

"Oooo…(He must have heard me somehow…)"

Taira fired another fireball at Kousuke. It was strong enough to knock him into the air and back onto the floor. Even after that attack Kousuke still stood up. Eventually the junior high school bully ran out of water bottles to drink and use his powers from. Kousuke had a chance against him now.

All of a sudden a refrigerator with water bottles inside appeared in front of him along with a ragged doll that was actually a God Candidate. In a battle it is against the rules for a God Candidate to help their student.

"KI! (CHEATERS!)" Sonson shrieked.

Sano was just as upset as Sonson, so he decided to help Kousuke out when Taira fired another attack. He turned his towel into steel and knocked away the fire ball that was coming at Kousuke.

As Sano was putting back his towel that the steel turned back into, he glared at the God Candidate. "You're giving him help! That's against the rules, is it not?!"

"Mr. Hot Spring metal using guy! Don't tell me you're Sano Seichiro!" Taira blurted out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Kurumi has a habit of saying 'desu' at the end of her speech. It doesn't mean anything. It's just a cute way of talking like Chichiri's (and later Kitsune's) na no da and Eiji's nya (which is what cat's say in Japanese.)
> 
> 2\. The reason why Kurumi is 33 instead of 18 (I think she's suppose to be 18 in Steel Angel Kurumi but she's a robot and robot's have no age.) is because of that fact that she lives longer than the other Genomes. A side affect of a Genome not going to Hell is internal youth. She chose to stay at the age 18 as her other two kids (which are the last two Genomes) are still developing and can choose whether or not to look the age they are now or not when they are at the age of Kurumi where she chose to have internal youth. Even if she has internal youth she is not immortal. Her lover is obvious if you watched the Steel Angel Kurumi series. He will be mentioned when Hideyoshi is introduced as Hideyoshi is the human that Kurumi attacked…I gave too much information…
> 
> 3\. Kitsune means fox which is Kitsune's nickname.
> 
> 4\. When you think of Kitsune's voice think of the voice actor of Sai from Hikaru no Go and Rolan from Marchen Awakens Romance, Susumu Chiba.
> 
> 5\. Out of all the remaining Genomes, the fox is the meat eater in other words the most violent one of them all…or so they say…
> 
> 6\. Anikii means big brother.


	4. I'll be Your Shield

We left off at the part where Sano defends Kousuke against Taira and his God Candidate and he asks them if it was against the rules for God Candidates to help their students out.

The God Candidate just laughed. "Against the rules? It's okay if you don't get caught." The God Candidate used her powers to make one of her hands go into the ground and appear behind Sano. She stole his towel before Sano could react to it. "Your power is turning towels into steel? Now there's nothing to worry about."

"Ki oo! (Damn you!)" Sonson cursed.

Kousuke, who was behind Sano, collapsed.

"Ueki!" Sano shouted as he turned around to see the spiky haired teen on the ground.

"Seems like all he could do was stand." Taira said in a mocking tone. 

"Taira-kun finish them off." his God Candidate ordered.

Taira launched another fireball at the two. Sonson hid in Sano's kimono as Sano used his tail to deflect the fireball. His tail was burned in the process.

 _I am never doing that again…_ He thought to himself. "Impressive for Ueki to withstand many hits from this attack."

"What's the idea?! Move out of the way!" Taira's God Candidate shouted.

"Just as it seems, I can't let him die here. I'll be his shield until I die." Sano explained. He held his arms out as he meant to protect Kousuke with his life. He turned toward Kousuke who wasn't unconscious. "Only this time Ueki, this is a special service."

" _Damnit! He's a Genome! If I kill them both then I lose a huge profit! If I can just knock out the Genome then I'll be rich before I know it! With that money, I'll have enough to become Kami-sama with a lot less effort._ You asked for it. I'll kill you both with the ultimate attack. Taira-kun, now!" Taira's God Candidate ordered.

Taira fired his ultimate fireball at the two. It was too big to dodge and could easily burn the both of them. All really did seem lost until Kousuke used his last reaming strength to shoot another tree past Sano that destroyed the huge fireball and slammed into Taira knocking him out. Kousuke was fully standing now with the tree in his hands.

 _Just as I thought, you're quite the guy._ Sano thought to himself as he smiled.

Sonson came out of Sano's kimono and sighed. "Kii…(I knew it…)"

Taira's God Candidate who was on the ground shocked at the fact that Kousuke stopped the ultimate fireball attack with one tree kept cursing at herself. Sano took his towel back from her and tied it back on his head.

"Taira is completely unconscious now. Game over for him. He will lose his powers and return to a normal person. Still want to fight?"

Taira's God Candidate feared Sano now who had a very devilish look in his eyes. She fled the scene in terror. Sonson then did the monkey dance as her victory cheer.

"I hope you go to hell!" Sano shouted.

Sano turned to Kousuke who collapsed again. Sano caught him just to make sure he didn't faint.

"Are you okay? Your wounds are terrible! Stay with me!"

"I'm…hungry…"

"What…?"

"I'm so hungry…" Kousuke repeated.

Sano drops him.

"That's why you collapsed?!"

Kousuke really did faint after that. Sano sighed as he looked around. There was nobody there to see him perform the trick he was going to perform. He gently placed his hands on Kousuke's wounds and began to heal them. The wounds disappeared instantly.

"Oooo ki-ki! (You're risking it Sano! If you heal him then you'll feel some strain in your body!)"

"I know Sonson, but I'm still doing my special service."

"Ke! (Special service my ass!)"

Sano turned to Sonson. "Sonson, can you go find the place where I left the riceballs?" He asked politely instead of yelling at Sonson's smart ass comment.

Sonson gave up. Her owner was so confusing at times. She left the building and came back with the riceballs.

"You might want to warm up the riceballs in the fire over there." Sano told her as he pointed to the little fire that was still in the building.

"Kiiii! (Fire!)"

She went over to the fire and put the riceballs under the flame for at least two minutes before removing it and then extinguishing the fire with water from one of the water bottles that Taira left behind. She then walked over to her owner who was suddenly pale.

"Uki? (What's wrong?)"

Sano frowned as he turned toward Sonson and sighed. "Ueki is…a Heavenly Being…"

"UKI?! (WHAT?!)"

"It's true. His wounds disappeared too fast when I healed him. A regular human would take at least ten minutes to heal depending on the injury. For injuries like this it would take at least forty-five minutes. But…it only took seven…" Sano explained.

Sonson couldn't believe what she heard. The person that Sano "fell in love with" was a Heavenly Being. That was a race Sano hated next to Hellions.

"It's okay Sonson. I don't think he knows it yet because he would have used his powers already." Sano said with a faint smile.

Sonson sighed. Her owner was of course going to find an excuse for him.

The two turned their attention to Kousuke who was waking up. That was fast!

"You're awake I see." Sano stated.

"I smell something good." Kousuke mumbled as his stomach grumbled.

"Is food all you ever care about?" Sano asked rather annoyed at the fact that Kousuke ignored his question.

Kousuke wasn't listening to him as he glanced at the riceballs that Sonson was holding.

"Oooo kii! (You're not having any until you talk to Sano!)" Sonson hissed. Kousuke of course didn't understand her.

"It's okay Sonson. Let him have some." Sano said with a sigh.

Sonson reluctantly obeyed her master as she set the riceballs (they were on a plate BTW) on the ground. Kousuke instantly dug into the riceball.

"This is good!" He announced as he continued eating.

"I'm glad you like it…" Sano muttered.

Sonson fumed. Kousuke was eating their survivor food like their was no tomorrow. He stopped when he noticed that the monkey was glaring at him.

"Sonson, please stop glaring at him." Sano told his monkey.

Sonson gave one last glare at Kousuke before running to her master and hopping on his shoulder.

"So your monkey's name is Sonson?" Kousuke asked trying to start a conversation since he realized that Sano was being awfully quiet.

"Yeah. She's really annoying at times, but most of the time I can rely on her." Sano said pissing Sonson off.

"Does she bite?" Kousuke asked. It was a really stupid question but…

"Only if she doesn't like you." Sano told him. "Then again, she doesn't like anyone but me and my God Candidate."

Kousuke was confused. "Does that mean she doesn't like your parents?"

At the mention of the word parents Sano turned away from him and Kousuke knew that he stepped on a land mine. "I don't want to talk about it…" He finally managed to say.

Kousuke noticed that the monkey was looking at her owner with worried eyes. "Did I say something wrong?"

Sonson was about to squeak at him when Sano told him that there was nothing wrong. Kousuke knew that their was more than meets the eyes. He was trying to be as polite as possible but deep down he was hiding something from him. He decided to ask another question. "What's that tail behind you?"

It was another bad question, but Sano could lie about this one easily. "It's Cosplay. Nothing else."

Kousuke being the person he was instantly believed that lie. Sano hated lying to people, but it's the only way to hide the fact that he's a Genome.

Kousuke went back to eating soon after that. In a few minutes, Kousuke's friend, Ai, woke up from the smell of riceballs.

"Oh, you're awake too." Sano started.

"You're that guy from before!" was the first thing that Ai said that pissed Sonson off.

Ai turned to Kousuke. "Why are you eating that riceball? What happened to the battle?!" she asked him.

They all turned to Taira who was still unconscious.

"We were losing at one point," Sano began, "but we managed to knock him out."

Ai sighed in relief before she glared at Sano. "BUT THERE'S STILL YOU WHO CAN STILL USE YOUR POWERS!"

Sonson hissed at Ai, but Sano had no problem with her yelling. "Don't worry, I don't want to fight an injured person. _Even though I already healed him._ " Sano stood up as he proceeded to leave. "Today's match was a tie."

The two stared at each other for a few minutes. Sonson sighed. If that wasn't a lover stare then she doesn't know what it would have been. He was about to leave when Kousuke thanked him.

"Don't worry about it." Sano said with his back still turned to him.

"The riceball was good." Kousuke said.

Sano fell over anime style. He turned around and glared at him, "You're still talking about that?!"

"Yeah." Kousuke answered unfazed.

Sano sighed. "Well I wasn't expecting gratitude or anything-"

"Kii-kii-kii. (You wanted it.)"

"I didn't want that guy to find the Blank Talent."

With that Sano left the building looking very disappointed at the fact that he was only thanked for the food. Sonson wondered if Kousuke was the right guy for him.

* * *

The next day, Sano was still thinking about what happened yesterday on how Kousuke was able to save him at the very end. Sonson on the other hand was having a grand time as she stole a bunch of bananas from another store without the clerk knowing. While in the middle of her third banana she glanced at her owner. He was still lost in thought of the events yesterday.

"Uki? (Are you okay?)"

Sano glanced at Sonson and smiled. "I'm okay. I'm just thinking of the battle yesterday."

"Oooouki? (About Ueki?)"

"That and…" Sano frowned. "The fact that he's a Heavenly Being…but even though he's a Heavenly Being…he has a kind heart like Wanko."

"Kii kii. (You shouldn't worry about petty things.)"

"Easy for you to say…"

Sano's God Candidate came again to scold Sano and Sonson for stealing yet again.

"I had nothing to do with it this time." Sano told him.

Inumaru sighed before he perked up. "Sano-kun, I know of a way for you to stop stealing."

"What is it?" he asked.

Inumaru handed him a sheet of paper with complicated stuff written on it. It looked like an application for a job. "I was able to talk to a clerk who needed someone to help her with his deliveries. She would like someone like you to help her."

Sano sweatdropped. "I don't think-"

"If you make the money then you won't have to steal, right Sano-kun?"

Sano didn't say anything as he filled the form out. Sonson continued to groan. She wouldn't be able to steal as much as she wanted. Sano finally said. "I'll take the job. I want to redeem myself. _I hated stealing anyway._ "

* * *

Inumaru showed Sano to the store (which happened to be the one that Sonson stole from) where the clerk awaited. The clerk was a she who had long black hair and green eyes. She had a pretty face and appeared to be in her early twenties. Sonson regretted stealing food from her.

"I hope Sano-kun could be of an assistance." Inumaru told her as he left Sano and Sonson.

"…He just wanted to dump a new responsibility on me…" Sano mumbled.

The clerk turned to Sano. "I hope we can get along. I'm new here myself, so I don't know much about being a cashier."

Sano sighed in relief. At least she was nice compared to some other clerks that he stole from.

"I'm Tako Umi" She introduced.

"Sano Seichiro, and my monkey is Sonson. Pleasure to meet you."

Sonson gave Umi a glare. There was no way that she would let her interfere with Sano's relationship with Kousuke! (Not like they have one at all yet.)

* * *

For the next five days, Sano and Sonson have worked in the convenient store with Umi earning money of course. Although it wasn't much Sano didn't complain since he thought that delivering food to a person's house would help him with his memorization skills. Sonson did though as she hated the job, and the reason she hated it was because people mostly dangerous looking men were staring at Sano as he was making his way from the convenient store to the houses. They kept snickering and it wasn't a good thing. Sonson had to keep giving them death glares for them not to get any ideas. Since Sonson did what she did, there haven't been any reports of sexual harassment.

"Ki…(This sucks…)" Sonson whined as they came back from another delivery.

"It doesn't suck Sonson! I earn money this way, and it's better than stealing!" Sano told her.

"Uki…(Whatever…)"

Sano greeted Umi again before getting ready for the next delivery. That was when Sonson gave that signal again which Sano froze. More Hellions were coming back for him and this time he couldn't escape easily. He knew that they would use Umi as hostage to get to him.

To Sano's surprise, he saw Umi's glaring at the entrance like she knew something bad was going to happen.

"Sano-kun," she began in a low tone which got his attention, "you better hide in the back."

"What do you-"

"Something bad is going to happen. I think it's best if you don't get involved."

"But-"

She faced Sano with a faint smile on her face. "I'll be your shield until I die."

Sano was stunned. "What are you talking about?"

She frowned. "I did tell you that I had an amazing sixth sense, so I knew this moment would come. I don't want a child still in junior high school die at a young age. That's why I'm going to protect you."

Sonson knew what she meant and tried to pull Sano away from her. Sano refused to move.

"My life isn't as important as yours!" Sano shouted. "I can live much longer than you can and-"

Umi cut him off as she pushed him and Sonson into the storage room and locked the door. "I'm sorry Sano-kun. It's for the best."

Sano continued to bang on the door, but Sonson forced him to stop by biting his tail really hard.

"Sonson, we have to go help her!" Sano shouted as his monkey.

Sonson shook her head. "Oo ki. (There's nothing we can do.)"

"But-"

"Ki Ke. (We have to get out of here.)"

Sano didn't give up much easily as he looked at the small hole that was in the storage door. On the other side, he saw three Hellions (two had knives and the third had a gun) hassling Umi. Umi stood her ground though and continued to glare at them.

"Lady, we don't mean any harm. We just want to know about the kid that works here." One of the Hellions said.

"I don't know any boy that works here, and even if I did, would I tell thugs like you?" She spat.

"Why you!"

The Hellion punched her in the face knocking her over. Sano was about to barge down the door when Sonson forced him not to. The Hellion then picked Umi up by the hair.

"You bitch! Keep talking like that and you really will die!" He threatened.

"Go ahead and kill me! It's not like you're get any information from me." She said as she spit at him in the right eye.

The Hellions was forced to drop her as he rubbed his eye. "Disgusting!"

Umi proceeded to the phone when another Hellion grabbed her and forced her to the ground.

"What do we do with her boss?" The Hellion asked the Hellion that wasn't doing anything.

"Simple. We kill her since she isn't giving any information about the Genome." He answered.

"With pleasure."

The second Hellion got out a knife and proceed to stab her when the first Hellion stopped him.

"That bitch is mine." he told his comrade.

"Too bad. You lost your grip, so she's mine." The second Hellion said in a sarcastic tone.

The two began to bicker. Umi was able to get away again. She dialed the police on the phone and proceeded to talk to them when the third Hellion got out a gun and shot her in the head. Blood gushed out of her as the blood splattered on the door. Sonson pulled Sano out of the way just in time when the blood went into the hole. The two other Hellions stared at their boss in shock.

"Why did you step in boss?" They asked.

The leader of the three Hellions blew the smoke that was on his gun. "She was going to call in reinforcements. Plus, you two buffoons were taking too long to kill her. And, I love to see the blood of women after all." He added in a scary tone. "We should focus on finding that Genome now. He still must be here."

The three Hellions proceeded to search through the convenient store before the police arrived. The leader stepped on Umi's corpse in triumph. He proceeded to look in the storage room. When he did though, Sano and Sonson were already gone. They went through the window in the storage room. He sighed as he called his master about the situation.

"It's quite okay. You made our Genome jobless which helps us. He'll go back to stealing and it'll be easier to capture him. That's where my Genome comes in."

The Hellions was shocked. "What are you talking about? You can't use that Genome until-"

"Sano-kun will only think of him as a friend. He won't suspect anything. As for you three Hellions, I can't let this secret of me having a Genome by my side, so I guess I'm going to have to kill you."

"What-"

"Good bye."

With that the mastermind hung up and the convenient store blew up. Apparently the Genome that he mentioned placed a time bomb on the place and it detonated when he commanded it to. The place was in flames scaring anyone that was near the sight. The Genome that the master mentioned watched as Sano and Sonson made their get a way. He picked up his cellphone and told his master. "That was unnecessary."

"My love, I didn't want them to know about us. That is why I killed them."

"People will think it was a terrorist attack."

"Well, it is my love. Continue to keep an eye on Sano-kun."

"Yes master."

"By the way. Whatever happened to that angel Genome?"

"She got away. She's with Kami-sama. There is no way to get to her unless we make it to past the first round."

"I see…well that makes things a _**WHOLE**_ lot easier. We get to kill two birds in one stone."

"Seems like it master."

"I got to go now. I have some unfinished business I have to attend to. Talk to you later my love."

"I love you too master."

With that the Genome hung up and turned off his phone. "Sano, I wish we were on the same side. Then you would see how nice our master really was."

* * *

Sano was able to get away from the building when it blew up. He was very upset as someone died because of him again.

"Uki. (It wasn't you fault Sano)."

Sano looked at his pet and then turned away, "It is my fault Sonson. Because I'm a Genome, the Hellions are targeting me and they'll kill anybody that gets in their way!" He sighed, "It's just so frustrating! All I do is run away!"

"Ki uki! (But if you fight them it'll end up like the last time)!"

"I know but-"

"Kii kii! (And you can't trust Hellions no matter how nice they try to be)!"

Sano sighed. He couldn't fight with Sonson when she was right about the Hellions. All Hellions bring nothing but misery. Even the Heavenly Beings. The Genomes were a race that was all alone in the world. They have nothing compared to what they all have. _I guess I should think about what I should do now…_

* * *

In the end Sano decided that it was best to get out of the town. The Hellions were searching for him in only that town and that was it. He decided to hitch hike on someone's truck. The man driving the truck didn't mind, but he told him to stay on the top of the car since their was no room inside which was fine by him.

The truck ending up passing Kousuke's and Ai's school. Sonson just happened to spot the two running the track. Well Kousuke was, but Ai was telling him that he gotten slower. Sano decided to say hi to them.

"Hey!" He shouted.

Kousuke and Ai sweatdropped. He was the last person that they wanted to see.

In the end, the two decided to go talk to him. They asked him where he was going and Sano lied by saying that because of his dad's job, he was going to Osaka.

"I just thought that I would stop by and say goodbye." The Genome added.

Ai changed the subject though. "Last week, you were saying something about the Blank Talent, right? What does that mean?"

Sano sighed as he turned to Kousuke. "Ueki, they didn't tell you anything?"

"Nope." Kousuke answered.

"That guy Atachi, he wanted to obtain the talent of running. In every battle, there's some kind of reward for it?" Ai questioned.

"If your God Candidate didn't tell you, then I don't know what to of I should, but basically yeah."

"Thought so."

Sano grinned as Sonson frowned. He was going to talk about hot springs AGAIN!

"When I win the battle, I want to obtain the excavation talent."

"Excavation?" Ai questioned.

"I want to make my own hot spring with my own hands."

"Your own hot spring weren't you…" Kousuke voice trailed off as he pictured himself in a hot spring surrounded by monkeys.

"You were thinking Maiyuu weren't you?" Ai asked him.

Sonson laughed silently to herself about Kousuke's stupidity. He doesn't even know the difference to a public bath and the ones you see in the mountains. Sano became serious though.

"There are other students who are seeking violent talents." He began that got their attention. "You defeated that guy Taira, right? He was thinking of obtaining the control talent, and using it to control people. There are many more who have crazy ideas, in this competition. But isn't that weird? The future of a middle school student should just be fulfilled! Instead of them winning, I want to win so I can obtain the excavation talent!" he lessened the serious look on his face and smiled. "Well, my hot spring is my plan anyway."

"It's time to go!" the man driving the truck yelled.

"Okay!" Sano look back at Kousuke and said, "Ueki, the battle between you and Taira…I learned that I'm not strong yet. The next time we meet, I'll fight more seriously. When that day comes, let's fight!"

With that said, the driver drove away with Sano and Sonson on top of it. They waved their good-byes as the trunk drove out of sight.

* * *

As the trunk drove out of the town, Sano sighed.

"I should have said something else to Ueki…" he complained.

"Chi. (That's your fault)."

Sano was about to yell at Sonson when he saw a fox with two tails walking on the road. It had recently caught a rabbit to eat.

"Now that's rare." Sano said.

It was true that foxes were hard to find these days, but a fox with two tails is extremely rare. He wondered if there were any more outside of the town.

"Ki… (So much for a confession…)"

"Did you say something?"

"Ki. (No.)"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. A Genome can sense if someone is a human, Heavenly Being, Hellion, or another Genome. I think Sano already knew that Kousuke was a Heavenly Being from the start. After all he didn't seem all too surprised when he was facing Kousuke in that fight that was in episode 21.
> 
> 2\. Remember, Sonson is only making an assumption that Sano likes Kousuke. Although there will be Kousuke/Sano fluff later, there will be none in the first part of my story (which is chapters 1-7).
> 
> 3\. Tako means octopus.
> 
> 4\. Umi means ocean.
> 
> 5\. I seriously doubt that Sano has a father. I mean what kind of dad leaves his son on the top of the truck when he could fall off any time? And how come Sano's parents aren't mentioned again? (I mean Rinko's parents aren't mentioned either but remember that she joined the Robert Ten so she might have run away from home. Then there is Hideyoshi who lives at an orphanage and Ai who still has her parents that actually appear in the manga. Kousuke's family appears every now and then.) So basically I don't think that man was his dad.
> 
> 6\. After the truck drives off, another student comes and complains that Sano ran away again. I think this proves that Sano doesn't like fighting and avoids it whenever he can since he could have taken out that guy easily. Typically I still think that Sano is one of those characters that actually lived on the streets. (Another example is when Sano meant Inumaru. I think he was going to refuse the offer because of his lack of trust toward people. Well I think he didn't practically like people in the first place until he meant Kousuke.)


	5. An Offer You Can't Refuse

Taken from where we left off, Sano had just left the town by hitchhiking on a guy's truck. The two have been on the truck for at least four hours as the trip to Osaka was long and the truck kept stopping due to there being all sorts of problems with the truck. Since there was nothing for Sano and Sonson to do on the trip, they ended up falling asleep. Sonson however woke up before her owner to watch over him. A Hellion or a selected student could attack them at any time. The truck was almost to Osaka though when the truck stopped again.

"Dammit! I just fixed the tires, so what's wrong with it now?!" The man asked.

He went out of his car to check on the tires and their seemed to be nothing wrong with them. Well, no one could have saw any problems with the tires at night, but Sonson could see it even though it was very dark. The tires had holes in them. Something or somebody poked a hole in them when they weren't looking. From the look of the marks though, it seemed like a cat did it. If it was a black cat though…bad luck was coming.

"Kii! (I think you should check the tires)!" Sonson told the driver knowing quite well that he wouldn't understand her.

The man wasn't listening to her as he went to check the front of the tires. There was an ominous aura nearby. Sonson went over to her master and woke him up despite him sleeping so peacefully. He woke up after Sonson chomped on his tail. He punched his monkey nearly causing Sonson to almost off the truck.

"Don't you dare bite my tail…" Sano growled before letting out a yawn.

Sonson then explained about the holes in the tire and how there was an ominous wind in the air.

"Ooki! (It's the Hellions! I'm sure of it)!"

Sano didn't want to believe that the Hellions were coming after him yet again. He had to though when he heard a timer on one of the wheels.

"Shit!" He cursed as he and Sonson jumped off the top of the truck on time just before the truck blew up. Sadly the man who was checking the front of the truck would not realize there was a time bomb on his truck before it was too late. The truck erupted into flames. Any traces of their being a driver was gone. 

"Kii… (That was close…)"

Sano was angry now. No matter where he went the Hellions kept following them. "Why won't the stupid Hellions leave us alone?!"

"Ki ki. (Because they are Hellions)."

Suddenly three figures appeared in front of the burned truck. One of them had cat ears and tail and stood to the right of the person in the middle who was wearing a hood. The person on the left was tall and muscular with blond hair. It was obvious though that the one in the middle was the leader as that person had the strongest aura coming from him.

"Oooooo (Those aren't Hellions)."

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Nice to meet you Sano-kun. I am Robert." The person in the middle introduced.

"Who are you and how do you know my name?"

"We have heard of an incident where a convenient store blew up and that there were only two people there at the time. The female clerk was killed as her assistant was able to escape. They said it was a student at the age of fifteen that escaped." The cat boy explained. "I had a feeling that it was you."

Sano froze. They knew.

"We aren't here to fight. We're just here to make a small agreement." The cat boy reassured him. 

"Ki? (Agreement?)"

It was apparent that the cat boy understood what Sonson said. "A request to join the Robert 10."

The shocked look on Sano's face turned into a glare, but the glare wasn't as scary as Sonson's glare. There was no way he would join the Robert 10! The Robert 10 were heartless bastards that would do anything to get what they want. Sano told Kosuke about them a few hours ago and he was going to stick to his words.

"Forget it!" He told them as he was about to walk off when…

"Do you really think that you would get off that easily?" The tall one asked. His voice was very loud compared to the other two. The tall guy got out beads and was about to use his powers when the middle guy told him to stop, which he did.

"Are you really sure that's okay?" The cat boy asked him more seriously. "Because if you refuse we will be forced to take action…not like we already have…"

Sano turned back toward the Robert 10. "What?"

The tall guy then laughed horribly. The cat boy covered his ears to show that he really didn't like him laughing.

"That's right! I already have that God Candidate of yours in the palm of my hands!" The tall guy declared as he showed him a purple pentagon. "You know what this is Genome?"

Sano was surprised that these dangerous people were carrying an item like that. "A Death Pentagon…"

"That's correct, and I already put this on the back of his neck!"

"Correction, I put the Death Pentagon in him. You just told me where to put it." The cat boy corrected.

"Shut up Ritsuka!" He shouted before he continued. "Anyway, you'll know what happens if I activate it right?"

Sano didn't answer because he knew what would happen if it did activate. It would drain the blood out of a Heavenly Being in seconds. It was used one Genomes as well, but it took much longer to kill them because they had animal blood in them as well.

"I'll tell you what it does. It will drain the blood out of a Heavenly Being in a matter of seconds! I think I might activate the Death Pentagon right now!"

He was about to when Sano yelled at him to stop.

"Who do you think you are ordering me around you-" He was cut off again as Ritsuka kicked him in the ass. "What the hell was that for Ritsuka?!"

"You're being too aggressive for your own good. You need to chill Carpaccio." Ritsuka said calmly.

"Tch."

Carpaccio stood down as the person in the middle which was probably Robert stepped up and asked. "Does that mean you'll join us Sano-kun?" He asked politely.

"Do you think I have a choice?"

"You Genomes always had a choice." Robert reminded him. "You didn't have to go to Hell. You could have stayed in Heaven or lived in the Human World, but your race chose to go with the Hellions."

Sano wanted to say something, but it was true. The Genomes chose to go with the Hellions. The only smart one to stay in the Human World was the Genome that single angel Genome that didn't go to Hell.

"Let's make a deal." Carpaccio began forgetting the fact that it was Robert that was going to make the deal. Robert didn't seem to mind though. "If you can defeat 20 power users under the power of the Robert 10 then I will remove the Death Pentagon on your precious God Candidate's neck."

It seemed like a good deal, but the Robert 10 couldn't be trusted.

"Ki? (Are you sure this is okay Sano? That bastard might fool you at the very end)."

"I have to do this Sonson. I don't want to lose anyone important to me anymore…" Sano told her sadly as he faced the Robert 10 with sorrowful eyes. "I accept."

Robert and Carpaccio smiled evilly. Ritsuka looked at both of them. There was nothing wrong with Robert. That's his usual grin when he gets what he wants. The smile on Carpaccio's face wasn't normal in comparison to Robert's. He never smiles at a **guy** like that!

 _I better keep an eye on him._ Ritsuka thought to himself. "If that's the case then I think it's best that we go to the other hideout."

Robert turned to Ritsuka. "I will, but not yet."

"Why not?" Ritsuka questioned.

"There's something that I want to show Sano-kun and I expect you to bring that thing."

Ritsuka frowned. Robert was going to show his powers again to show Sano what he was up against. He snapped his fingers and a student participating in the battle appeared. He was still dazed from the technique.

"…The power to teleport things from one place to another…" Ritsuka mumbled.

Robert smiled turned more sinister as he used his powers to trap the student (that was still half asleep) into a blue bubble and rose him up in the air. He then turned to Sano. "Anyone who defies me will die." With that he popped the balloon and the student was falling.

Sano didn't know what to do. If he tried to help then he might get killed by Robert, but if he didn't do anything then a student might die. He didn't want to see anyone die in front of him anymore.

"Sorry, Sonson." He mumbled before he took his monkey and threw her at the student that was now wide awake and screaming.

"KIIIII! (I AM NOT A ROCK YOU ASS)!"

She crashed into the student, but because they collided, the impact would be reduced greatly so the student wouldn't die from the fall. Sonson might though. She was pissed off at her owner. Sano then used his powers to turn his towel into steel and created a board that softened the fall. The student and Sonson fell on top of it.

"Safe…" Sano mumbled in relief.

"Ki… (I hate you…)"

Ritsuka smiled. At least the student didn't die. Carpaccio was enraged at Sano's action as Robert stood there emotionless.

"You fool!" Carpaccio yelled. "Now you're going to get it!"

Carpaccio got out the bead again, but Ritsuka snatched it from him.

"Violence isn't the answer…" Ritsuka told him.

Carpaccio glared at Ritsuka, then at Sano, and finally turned to Robert. Robert used his powers again on the student despite Sano's effort to save him. He couldn't save him again this time because Sonson would not allow her owner to throw her like a rock.

"You will die now." Robert mumbled.

The bubble popped again as the student fell again. Sano did the only thing he could do.

"Stop it Robert! You can't kill him if he hadn't done anything!"

It was really stupid and the rate of Robert actually listening to what he had to say was less than one percent.

 _Pathetic._ Robert thought to himself; He wasn't going to use his blue bubble to save the student since he got out his Kurogane weapon. He was about to fire when he turned toward Sano. His eyes widened because he thought he saw someone else in him. _Midori?!_ He unconsciously used his powers to put the student in a blue bubble that gently floated back down. Everyone was shocked that Robert had spared someone's life.

Sano went over to the student immediately and healed his wounds. Sonson was glancing over at Robert. Ritsuka was surprised that Robert actually listened to Sano. Carpaccio was enraged that his leader did that. He turned toward Sano and glared. "I should have done this sooner. The power to turn beads into bombs!"

Carpaccio fired bead bombs at Sano. Sano didn't bother turning around because he was in the process of healing someone and was almost finished by the time he turned around to see that he was going to get hit along with Sonson and the student. He was until Robert used his powers to make the bead bombs light which made them float up in the sky and explode in the bubble.

"Robert why are you protecting a Genome like him?!" Carpaccio asked in rage.

Robert glared at Carpaccio. "I will not allow you to harm him."

"Why-"

Ritsuka completely understood what Robert meant and didn't question him.

"I will not repeat myself. Don't you dare harm him psychically or I may have to kill you." Carpaccio was stunned that his leader told him that. He growled as he began to walk away in another direction. Robert turned to Ritsuka. "I leave him in your care until it's time to face him again like you said."

"Yes Robert."

With that said Robert turned to Sano and glared. "Don't get the wrong idea that I saved you and that bystander. It was because I didn't want to see you hurt before my plan was complete. It was nothing but pity."

Sonson shivered at Robert's words, but Sano didn't seem affected. With Ritsuka's powers, Ritsuka took him, Robert, Carpaccio, Sano and Sonson away to their secret hideout leaving the student there to be picked up by the police and rushed to the hospital.

* * *

The days staying with the Robert 10 (about a week) was hell or that was what Sonson thought. Sano didn't want to admit it, but it wasn't TOO bad. The hidden base was under a video game arcade, and only if you play the game and find the secret entrance could you enter. The base was pretty clean despite it being underground. Not only was it clean, but the rooms were very nice as well as the food. As for the members, Robert was still getting Ritsuka and Carpaccio to get more members to join in secret. Despite Robert being really heartless, he still treated Sano well. Carpaccio however just kept giving Sano glares when Sano was looking at him and evil grins when he wasn't looking. He was up to something. Ritsuka on the other hand was being really nice in a weird way. Sano realized that he was a pacifist, but only joined the Robert 10 because he had nowhere else to go. Due to Ritsuka's nature, the two were able to become friends to Sonson's dismay. A cat and a monkey don't mix. The only question is if Ritsuka was a Genome or not.

After Sano took out two more student candidates, he came back to the base. Ritsuka wasn't there as usual since he went to recruit new members. Robert was gone as well.

Sano went to his room where Sonson was. She was sleeping on his bed. Sano smiled.  _Despite this place belonging to the Robert 10...it's still warm…_

He shook his head. There was no way that he would let this place get to him. Pretty soon he would call this place home.

Sano was about to leave his room when Carpaccio appeared in front of him. He frowned. "What do you want Carpaccio?"

Carpaccio smiled evilly. "I just wanted a little chat."

Sano didn't like the look on his face. "What kind of chat?"

"A chat that I want to discuss in my room."

When he said "my room", Sano knew what he meant and proceeded to head back into his room instead. Carpaccio grabbed his wrist.

"What are you doing?!" Sano questioned.

Carpaccio faced turned dark. "You better come with me if you know what's good for you."

Sano started to tremble. "I have more important things to do, s-so leave me alone."

"If you don't come with me, I'll activate the Death Pentagon right now." Carpaccio threatened.

Sano was stunned. "But you said-"

"I said that if you defeated ten student candidates would I remove the Death Pentagon. However, I didn't say that I could order you to do whatever I want."

Sano glared at him. "You bastard…"

"What will it be Sano?"

Sano glared at him, but in the end he was forced to go with him to Carpaccio's room. Carpaccio grinned evilly as he dragged the Genome to his room. Sonson witnessed the scene and was about to follow him when Carpaccio closed the door.

"Ki! (I will get you!)"

Sonson looked around and saw an air bent. She quickly sped over to the air bent and took it out. She then hopped inside. If she was correct, then this air bent should connect to Ritsuka's room and then Carpaccio's room. Hopefully she could make it in time to save her owner.

* * *

Carpaccio finally managed to force Sano into his room and when he did, he locked the door preventing anyone from coming in and from Sano getting out. He was going to have a lot of fun with him.

Sano managed to get out of Carpaccio's death grip and move away from him, but Carpaccio kept on coming.

"You know something..." Carpaccio began. "I think you're pretty cute for a guy."

Sano was scared now. He heard this type of talk before. He fell over on Carpaccio's bed when he tried to move back.

"Maybe too cute for your own good."

Sano froze when Carpaccio was too close for comfort. He tried to scoot away, but the taller teen grabbed his wrist again.

"Your skin is very soft." He added in a perverted tone.

"Let go!" Sano shouted as he struggled to push the teen away from him. His strength was nothing compared to Carpaccio's though.

"And your tone of voice is just like a girl's."

Carpaccio took both of Sano's hands and pinned them on top of Sano's head so he couldn't move them. He then took of the towel that was on his head and threw it on the floor.

"Everything about you is so feminine." 

"S-Stop it!"

Sano's pleas were ignored as Carpaccio took off his clothes. Sano panicked when he finished undressing because he proceeded to remove Sano's kimono.

"D-Don't touch me you pervert!" He shouted.

Carpaccio's grin became more and more sinister as he glanced at Sano's body. "You're just missing two big breasts. With those, you would make a perfect woman."

After a few attempts, Carpaccio managed to take off Sano's kimono and his underwear. He threw it in the pile of clothes. He glanced at Sano's exposed body that Sano desperately tried to cover.

"And your body will now belong to me and only me."

Sano's mind stopped working. He was too afraid to do anything. He was in a situation like this when he was much younger and the reason this situation didn't get any worse was because Sonson saved him. She might not be able to save him this time.

 _Somebody help!_ Sano cried to himself.

Carpaccio proceeded to Sano's lips, but before he could touch them, the air bent on top of his head fell on top of him. Out of the air bent came Sonson as she threw her body on Carpaccio's face. He was stunned to see all brown and when he realized that it was the monkey, he fought with her to get her off of his face. Because of that he was forced to let go of Sano's wrist.

"Sonson!" Sano managed to get out.

"Ooki! (Get out of here Sano!)" Sonson told her master.

"But-"

"KIII! (HURRY UP AND GO!)"

Sano didn't have enough time to flee because Carpaccio managed to pry Sonson off of him. He threw her at the door where she took a big hit.

"You stupid monkey! Interfering at a time like this!" He shouted as he took the air bent and threw it at Sonson. It hit her on the head.

"Sonson!"

"Ki…(Dammit…)"

When Carpaccio was sure that Sonson wouldn't rise again, he turned to Sano and grinned. "Now let's finish off where we left off."

Sano was about to bolt over to the injured monkey when Carpaccio blocked the entrance. He pushed Sano back on the bed and jumped on top of him.

"You're not getting away that easily."

Sano proceeded to scream, but the taller teen saw this and put one of his hands over his mouth. The screams came out like muffles.

"Don't be loud yet." Carpaccio mumbled as he used his free hand to touch the Genome's cock. Sano froze instantly when that hand touched him their.

 _Stop it!_ Sano cried to himself.

Carpaccio grinned. "Too bad your cock is too small compared to mine."

Sano started to groan in frustration feeling the large hand stroke his cock. Sano had never touched himself before, so someone else doing it for him was so foreign to him. His body started to heat up as he desperately tried to get away. With Carpaccio's hand on his mouth and his other hand on his dick, he was a sitting duck. Carpaccio would tell him to hush while he continued to stroke him. That wasn't the problem though. Sano had shut his eyes so he wouldn't see what the perverted bully was doing, but the temptation was too much and he ended up opening his eyes. Not only were tears rolling down his face, but he was able to get a good look at his attacker. Sano's cock really was small in comparison to Carpaccio's that became hard from just giving the smaller teen a handjob. When the hand was removed from his mouth, Sano let out quiet moans. His body was trembling as if it was ready to surrender to pleasure. Sano didn't know what to do as he shut his eyes in frustration. Praying was all that was left with how weak he was. 

_I don't want this! Someone please help!_

Sonson could only stare in horror as she watched Carpaccio's starting to violate Sano. She didn't want this to happen. She tried to push the air bent off of her, but it was too heavy for her. _Damnit! If only I had_ _ **that**_ _then could I show my true form and teach this bastard a lesson! Someone needs to save Sano!_

Someone else seem to have heard their calls for help as their was a snap. With the snap done, Sano disappeared. Carpaccio ended falling flat on his face on his bed. There were two more snaps and with those snaps Sonson, and Sano's clothes disappeared. Carpaccio heard footsteps walking away from his door. He instantly got up and put his clothes on as he rushed out the door. He glared when he saw the person responsible of ruining the moment.

"Ritsuka you bastard!" He yelled.

The cat boy had showed himself with Sano in his arms and Sonson and Sano's clothes on his shoulder. He glared at the tall blond for screaming across the hall. "So you were planning to assault him all along ever since Robert scolded you." He snarled.

"And what if I was?" He asked sarcastically.

Bad move as Ritsuka's face darkened to the point where you thought that he was a lion instead of a cat. "Get out of here Carpaccio or I'll report what you were trying to do to Robert!" He threatened.

Ritsuka was dead serious and Carpaccio knew that. He snarled. "You stupid cat boy! You won't get away with this!"

Carpaccio exit's the hall as he said that he was going to hit on some hot chicks.

"I'm going to haunt that guy when I'm gone…" Ritsuka said to himself as he took Sano and Sonson to his room. Sonson squeaked at him to not take her master to the cat boy's room. He ensured her that he wasn't as low as Carpaccio was.

* * *

Once Ritsuka entered his room, he locked the door so Carpaccio wouldn't be able to come in. He placed the exhausted Sano on his bed. He then looked at his clothes and sighed. "I guess I'm going have to wash the stench from his clothes."

While Ritsuka went to do that, Sonson hopped over to her master. Her master was still able to sleep peacefully, but she knew that it would be even harder for Sano to trust people after an incident like that. It was a shame since Sano was starting to crush on someone, but if a bastard like Carpaccio would assault him for the pettiest of things, then there was no hope for this kid. 

 _If only I could go back to my human form…then maybe I could be able to protect him better…_ Sonson thought to herself. _Maybe if I accepted my duties as being a God then maybe I could have then escaped to Earth and met Sano the same way…no…I shouldn't call him by his last name…Seichiro…_

After an hour of washing clothes, Ritsuka was finished. When he came back into his room with Sano's clean clothes, he was slowly waking up.

"KI! (SEICHIRO)!"

Sano slowly opened his eyes. He glanced around the room and when he realized that he wasn't in his room, he panicked.

"Don't worry Sano, I took care of Carpaccio. He won't attempt to assault you after what I told him." Ritsuka said.

Sano looked at Ritsuka and smiled slightly. "Thank you Ritsuka-kun."

"I thought I told you to drop the honorifics! And you're welcome. I knew he was going to do something like that sooner or later."

Sano looked at his body and realized that he was naked. He put his legs together to hide his cock. Ritsuka turned away with a slight blush. "Don't worry. I didn't do anything to you while you were asleep. I just washed your clothes for you, but I think it's best if you take a shower. I can't stand your scent."

Ritsuka pointed to his shower over there. Before Sano got up though, Ritsuka threw a towel at him. "At least cover yourself up."

Sano thanked Ritsuka again to the cat boys dismay before going into the shower. Sonson wanted to go in too, but Ritsuka forced her to stay in the room.

"There are times when you shouldn't look at your master that way." Ritsuka said in a taunting voice although it didn't sound like it.

"Oooooo… (You bastard…)"

As Sano took a shower, he asked Ritsuka why he joined the Robert 10 since he wasn't telling the whole story. The shower is in another room, but the door was left open for the sole purpose of speaking to Ritsuka while he was washing himself.

Ritsuka was debating whether or not he should tell him about his past or not. In the end, he decided to explain the whole story.

"I am not a Genome…" He explained. "I am from another world where everyone has cat ears and tail. These represent youth and will only go away if one has sexual intercourse. Having sex in my world means that you have become a full fledge adult…"

That explained why he has cat ears and a tail but wasn't called a Genome by anyone.

"In his world…his older brother Seimei was killed." 

That stunned Sano and Sonson.

"When he died, the Ritsuka that everyone knew changed. The once innocent slacker was gone. He became cold, serious and mature. The new Ritsuka would figure out who killed his older brother, but it wasn't easy because when he changed, his mother changed as well. She wanted her old Ritsuka back. When the new Ritsuka did something that the old Ritsuka wouldn't do, she would beat him up. He got used to the abuse. That was when he met Seimei's friend Soubi. He didn't know why he was attracted to an older man that didn't have any cat ears, but soon he fell in love…or was it love because the new Ritsuka's name was Loveless."

Sano didn't understand. He knew Ritsuka was talking about how he changed because of his older brothers death, but what does the old and new have to do with anything? And what was Loveless?

"Together they fought people that were after us, as the new Ritsuka learned about the organization that killed his brother, Septimal Moon and he learned that Soubi and Seimei weren't all like they seemed…" Ritsuka's voice trailed off. He took a deep breath before he started again. "The new Ritsuka was getting so stressed out that he needed time to be away from Soubi. That was when he found a merchant that sold him a watch that allowed him to travel to one world once and back. If he wanted to go to another world and stay their permanently then he could, but he wouldn't be happy. After all the other world was only to run away from everything for a short period of time. The new Ritsuka took it and said that he would be gone until he could admit the truth about Soubi and his older brother. With that he used the watch and he ended up in another world where he gained the power to snap his fingers to teleport something or someone from one place to another."

Sonson was lost. Sano tried his very best to understand him. More questions about Ritsuka's past kept popping up.

"That was when he met Robert." Ritsuka continued. "He had nowhere to go at the time. He was all alone in the world, but he appeared and offered him to join the Robert 10. He really didn't care at first because someone accepted him already when he just entered a new world. Of course looks can be deceiving as he learned that the Robert 10 was just like the Septimal Group. He wanted to get out of the group as soon as possible, but where would he go? That was the question. He wasn't ready yet to go back to his world and face reality for what Soubi and his brother Seimei was. He only stayed because he thought that he was no better than the Septimal Group. He did learn some things about his leader though…"

"Like what?" Sano interrupted.

"About why he hates human and why he wants to rid this world of them…and it's because they killed **her**."

"Who is "her"?" Sano questioned.

"A girl name Hebi Midori. She was…another Genome."

That surprised them. "There was another Genome?!"

"Yes, but because she was different like Robert, they shunned her. From the information that I got from Robert, they were in love with each other despite them being really young, but on the day that they were going to kill Robert since they were going to give Midori another chance to be among them, they killed her…"

Sano turned off the water from the shower. He just learned that the people in this world kill Genomes. There really was no safe place for them.

"And they killed her because she protected Robert. When he was about to fire a Kurogane at another section of the town, she stopped him. The selfish humans in this world thought that she was the one commanding him though, and they killed her in front of him. Robert then killed them all and he swore that he would rid the world of humans for the Genomes sake."

"I'm so confused now…" Sano mumbled to himself. Sure he understood why Robert would hate the humans and want to get rid of them, but Ritsuka still didn't explain all the terminology from his world meant. He didn't explain what Loveless was or the type of person that Soubi and his older brother Seimei was. How did they fight battles in his world? Most importantly, how did he get a power without the use of a God Candidate? Did Ritsuka make all of that up as a coping mechanism...or were there really other worlds out there that was better off than this one? 

"The reason why Robert recruited you was because you're a Genome like Midori."

"That doesn't explain much…"

"Robert cares about the Genomes despite him being heartless. The Genomes are like him. Shunned for most of their lives for being a "monster". When he gets the blank talent, he plans to create a world with only Genomes, but in order to do so, he has to find all to join him."

"He forced me to join…" Sano told him in a sarcastic tone as he took the towel and dried himself with it.

"Robert wouldn't go to full extremes to recruit a Genome though…" Ritsuka said that got Sano's attention. "He tried to get a fox Genome to join, but he refused. Robert let him go… but at first I didn't understand why he went to external lengths to get you, but after looking at a picture of Midori that he kept-yes I snuck into his room when he wasn't there-I understood the reason. The reason was that Midori looks like you minus the fact that she had green hair, and a snake tail. My guess is that her personality is like yours as well." 

Sano groaned at the fact that he heard that he and this Midori person looked alike.

"I came to the conclusion that you and her were twins, but were separated from birth." Ritsuka stated.

"Doubt it!" Sano shouted as he wrapped the towel around him and got out of the shower. Ritsuka looked at him or rather his body and smirked. "Well, your body is more feminine, so maybe-"

"KI?! (AND YOU'RE CALLING ME A PERVERT?!)"

Because Sonson was screeching at Ritsuka, the cat boy was forced to bicker back at the monkey since he understood her. That was another question. How could someone else understand Sonson? He thought that only monkeys could understand her.

When the two stopped their bickering Sano mumbled in a low tone. "You still didn't tell me much about you beside the fact that you're not a Genome, you're from another world and that your older brother died."

"…My life is my own and I decided whether or not if I want to say anything else."

Sano sighed as he put his kimono and underwear back on. _I guess there is more to Ritsuka than meets the eye._

* * *

A week later, there was a red moon in the sky. That was when Ritsuka asked Sano to come with him to hunt some student candidates and was told to have Sonson stay behind while he took on the mission. This Ritsuka seemed different though. He seemed more heartless when he spoke to the Genome.

When they were out they fought five people with powers. In the end though, Ritsuka let Sano take out all of the students. He defeated them easily.

"That's five people Sano." Ritsuka began as he checked his cell phone that counted the number of people Sano needed to defeat to remove the Death Pentagon." …so…are you going to kill them?"

Sano was shocked at the question. Ritsuka never mentioned anything about killing before. Beside that he already told him that he wasn't a killer. "I already told you Ritsuka-kun that I would never kill anyone! And what's up with your thirst for blood all of a sudden?"

Ritsuka looked at the red moon in the night sky. His eyes became crimson red as he looked at the five unconscious students. "A Genome is suppose to kill people…" he said coldly. With that, his cat claws grew to dagger length that scared Sano. He then pierces all of the student's hearts killing them instantly. "When you kill someone, you don't feel any regret at all."

As Ritsuka withdrew his claws, Sano turned away from the sight. There was no way that Ritsuka would kill anyone. It had to do with the red moon in the sky. He didn't mention anything about the killing as he told the cat boy. "…You should know that my powers save people not kill them…"

"True. A healer can only save people, but what's the point if you can't heal yourself?"

Sano didn't say anything as they headed back to the hideout. This is probably what Ritsuka meant when he was no better than the Septimal Group. He killed people without a care in the world.

* * *

It was the next day when Robert asked the Robert 10 to gather to tell them something important. Sano asked Ritsuka about what happened the night before.

"What about it?"

"You mean you don't know?"

"Know what?"

Sano learned that Ritsuka becomes a different person when the moon was red. He kills them to satisfy himself, and the next he forgets everything like an innocent child.

Once the two got into the room where Robert and Carpaccio was.

"Thanks for coming making on time Sano-kun." Robert said in his polite voice.

Carpaccio then began to complain that the people that Robert (he was actually doing the dirt work) and Ritsuka weren't recruiting enough women.

"Maybe because there aren't that women that are in this competition." Ritsuka told him in a sarcastic tone.

"You be quiet, pussy!" Carpaccio spat.

Ritsuka smirked.  _You're going to get it now that I got two people to join._

Carpaccio then checked how many people Sano had left to check out. "Oh yesterday you took out five people?"

Sonson continued to glare at him as Sano answered despite not wanting to. "Yes. I only need two more people to take out before I hit ten. Will you keep your end of the deal?"

"Of course." Carpaccio answered.

"That means no." Ritsuka said to himself.

"You're asking to get yourself killed Ritsuka!" Carpaccio said with his evil grin.

Sano began to walk away, but not before asking., "Is it true that all ten of the ten have been defeated? And just by one guy?"

"Yeah." Carpaccio answered.

"I wonder who took out that brat, Myoujin…"

"Ueki. His name's Ueki Kosuke, it seems."

Sano stopped. _What?_

"Oh, right, right. We've decided to have a little party too see how good this Ueki guy really is, right Robert? We've even got some new people for it."

"You mean I found the new people." Ritsuka corrected as he pointed in the direction of the fat kid Yun-Pao and the quiet one or rather the bloodthirsty Kabara.

"Be quiet. The most thing though is that both of them are tougher than Myoujin." Carpaccio explained.

Ritsuka scooted closer to Sano and whispered in his ear. "Truth be told, they're really weak on a one to ten scale. The weaker the better for you and me."

" _So that's what you were planning…_ "

"Sano-kun," Robert began, "you're going to the party too. You don't mind, right?"

Sano didn't answer. He just nodded his head in agreement. Robert's face became sinister.

"By the way Carpaccio..." He began in a dark tone. Everyone but Ritsuka shivered to his tone of voice. "I heard that you disobeyed my orders when I told you not to harm Sano-kun in any way."

Carpaccio immediately turned his attention to Ritsuka who was smirking evilly. Sano backed off.

"I thought I told you not to touch Sano-kun. You'll be punished for this."

With that said, Robert got out his Kurogane and aimed it at Carpaccio. He fired it at a fast speed that Carpaccio didn't have a chance to react. He was sent flying into the wall which ended up breaking.

"Now I have to repair the wall again…" Ritsuka mumbled to himself, but he was still smirking.

Carpaccio managed to avoid a critical hit. He still had his eyes on Ritsuka who deliberately said that he would not tell Robert about the incident if he didn't lay a finger on Sano. In the end Ritsuka told Robert for his own amusement.

"You understand now Carpaccio?" Robert questioned as the Kurogane weapon disappeared. "Harm Sano-kun in any way again and you I won't just use Kurogane on you."

Carpaccio mumbled something about Midori which pissed the leader off, but he told Robert that he understood what he meant. Robert then turned toward Ritsuka and glared.

"I don't like the fact that you took so long to tell me about something that happened a week ago. Mention anything important like this any later again and I won't hesitate to use that on you."

"Right Robert!" Ritsuka said with a smile. He was still laughing at how Robert reacted.

Robert then dismissed everyone but told Ritsuka to stay and fix the wall that he destroyed. Sano decided to stay behind as well because he didn't want to leave the cat boy alone nor did he want to speak to any of the other student candidates despite Ritsuka calling them weak.

Once Robert and the others were gone, Ritsuka started using his powers to repair the wall. As he was halfway finished Ritsuka warned him about the 'party'.

"The party is basically going to be another fight." Ritsuka began. "So Sano, I'll only say this once: If a member gets knocked out on our team, you must heal their wounds regardless of how you feel."

"…I understand…"

"One more thing. I plan on Robert's team losing."

"What do you mean?"

"If one of the weak members loses, then all we have to do is make it seem that we lost. The stages Robert will choose will be to our advantage. That's why it's very important to make our lost look realistic as possible."

Sano didn't say anything.

"Don't worry, Sano. No one on Team Ueki should die if I can't help it."

"…I hope you're right…but…why are you helping me and Ueki?"

"I just need something to entertain myself, and the fact that evil shouldn't win. _And because you remind me of Soubi._ "

Sano didn't say anything as Ritsuka finished repairing the wall.

"Done!" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: TBC with 6852 words. Notes!
> 
> 1\. When I saw Carpaccio I thought "He's your worst nightmare…FOR A BLOND!" At least Armstrong looked 'kind of' good looking no offense.
> 
> 2\. Midori means green.
> 
> 3\. Since Sano has the voice actor of Alviss from Marchen Awakens Romance , I refer his tone of voice very girly because of this. 
> 
> 4\. To call someone by their first name in Japan means you are really close. Usually a pet (if they can talk) calls their owner by their first name, but the reason why Sonson didn't call Sano by his first name earlier was because she felt like she wasn't that close to her master until now. Sonson is now very over protective of Sano and will be from now on.
> 
> 5\. Seimei is Ritsuka's older brother from Loveless. I don't know much about him, but in Ritsuka's Soubi's and Yuko's POV he is a kind caring man while to everyone else he was a heartless bastard. I don't know which opinion to believe yet.
> 
> 6\. Hebi means snake.
> 
> 7\. Midori will play a big role later and not because of the fact that she and Sano look the same.


	6. On Different Sides

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do skip the battle scenes in this particular chapter because when I was writing it, I didn't want to describe every little detail that was shown in the episode when the episode is easy to find online. All of that dialogue would have stayed the same, and I just skipped to the end where the dialogue changes. That's the old me, since the new me would do her best to write the whole thing out.

It was the day where Team Ueki would be facing the Robert 10. It would be four against five...which meant the Robert 10 would be cheating with that extra member. Sano did not want to participate, but he had no choice since Carpaccio threatened to activate the Death Pentagon. This was also his chance to defeat two more student candidates and fulfill his end of the deal. Ritsuka didn't want to participate in this either since he had more important things to do, but because of Carpaccio being an ass to him, he was forced to join.

In Ritsuka's room, Ritsuka was getting the thing he needed for time to pass by if he was to ever fight today.

"Kii ooo?! (What do you mean I can't help you?!)"

Sano sighed. "I'm sorry Sonson, but, in order to convince Wanko that I changed, I have to prove that I abandoned you."

"Oooo… (I doubt he would fall for it…)"

"I know what you mean Sonson, but I need you to stay in my kimono at all times…"

Ritsuka grunted as he put the item he was bringing in a suitcase. He then got all the wires he needed.

"What are you doing Ritsuka-kun?" Sano asked him.

"I'm going to talk to Septimal Moon." He answered.

Sano was confused. "Septimal Moon as the group that killed your brother?"

"Yes. Even if we're from a different world. It seems like this world is connected to my world, so I can still communicate with Septimal Moon."

"Why would you talk to them? They're murderers, right?"

Ritsuka smiled sinisterly. "They may be killers, but I can learn the truth of them, Soubi, and the mystery behind Seimei's death. Maybe, just maybe, not all is what it seems. Maybe Septimal Moon is actually good and my brother is evil. The more I talk to them, the closer I am to the truth." Ritsuka made a face that scared the crap out of Sano. "I'm getting exited just thinking about it. If my brother is a killer then I'm free to be a killer and the old Ritsuka won't come back."

"Stop it!" Sano shouted. Ritsuka turned to him with an emotionless face. "You shouldn't say that about your brother! You make it seem like he's just as bad as Septimal Moon, but I seriously doubt he isn't! After all, he is your brother!"

"Being blood related doesn't mean anything if he's a killer. After all…to me…he was a guy that would wrestle and tickle me and treat my wounds like an older brother would do, but to everyone else...they called him a masochist." Ritsuka's face darkened. "I don't know what to think anymore…"

"Ritsuka-kun…"

Robert then appeared on the TV and announced that the members of the Robert 10 assembled. Ritsuka got his suitcase and left, but not before grabbing a nearby manga from his bed and throwing it at Sano. "You'll get bored if you watch the match. It's better to read then watch if you're not selected."

With that the cat boy left the room, Sano looked at the book and gasped.

"Ki? (What is it?)" Sonson asked from inside Sano's kimono.

"It's the third volume of Chobits!" Sano declared. "I've been looking for this volume forever!"

"Oooo. (I thought you didn't read that porn stuff.)"

"Well you're wrong. Last week I was reading volume 2! And the week when I encountered Ueki, I was reading the first one, and I love this series! By the way, this isn't porn! It's a romantic sci-fi story!"

"Uki…uki... (Whatever you say. Glad you got something to do…)"

* * *

As the members of the Robert 10 gathered Robert was explaining the rules to Team Ueki. He was recently explaining about the bracelet that everyone was wearing. He said that the poison was strong enough to kill all but the Genomes. He then explained the rules of the game and how they were going to fight and so on. While that was happening, Sano was reading Chobits and Ritsuka plugged in the computer and logged on to the website where he can speak to Septimal Moon. Finally it was time for them to appear to Team Ueki. Carpaccio being the leader went first followed by the other royal Robert 10 members. Sano was walking and almost tripped because he was reading while he was walking. Ritsuka was last because he was dragging his computer to the area.

 "Are we FINALLY ready, Robert?!" Carpaccio asked.

As soon as Sano appeared and putting the book away and acting all serious, Inumaru asked him why he joined the Robert 10.

"You have some reason, right?"

Sano did not respond.

Carpaccio laughed. "Sano doesn't want to talk to you!"

"Probably because you blackmailed him…" Ritsuka mumbled to himself as he was waiting for a member of Septimal Moon to show up.

"I HEARD THAT!"

 _Wanko, Ueki…why did you come?_ Sano asked himself. _If you didn't come then everything would have worked out better, but Ueki…to think that you become stronger after beating the Robert 10. I wanted to meet you under different circumstances, but..._

"Rinko, who's the foreign dude and the cat boy?" Kousuke asked.

"Carpaccio, the Commander in Chief of the Robert 10. He's the one who takes control of them and adds new members. Probably the two behind him are new members of the 10." Rinko explained. She then turned to Ritsuka. "That is Aoyagi Ritsuka, I don't know much about him, since he's always with Robert and never with the 10-"

She was cut off as he started cursing at the computer complaining that the Septimal Moon bastards aren't online.

"...I thought he was a serious quiet boy, but looking at him now…"

"He's too loud…" Kousuke said.

After Ritsuka finished his tantrum and sat back down, it was time to decide the first match. Kousuke controlled the slot machine wheel as he was fighting first along with the fat kid Yun-Pao with the stage being the cake field. The two fighters were transported to the battlefield. The rules were simple. Either knock out the opponent or knock him off the field to win.

As the battle began, we move back to what Sano is doing. He decided to take his manga back out, but decided to watch what Ritsuka was doing since his face was all serious when he started typing again.

"Ritsuka, what's up?" He asked the cat boy.

Ritsuka did not respond, as he was sending messages to the Septimal Group.

 **Where are you?** Septimal Moon asked Ritsuka.

 _Away from Soubi._ Ritsuka answered. _In this place, I still want to ask questions about him._

**Go ahead.**

_Was Seimei a part of your group?_

**Depends what you mean. Some people may say he was while others say he wasn't.**

_There are six members, right?_

**Right.**

_Do they go in any particular order?_

**Yes.**

_What rank would Seimei be then?_

**It depends on what you mean.**

Ritsuka was really into this. He thought for a moment before asking another question.

_How many fighter units did Seimei defeat?_

**He defeated many fighter units that chose to fight him. None were seen ever again when they fought him and Soubi.**

Ritsuka stopped. He smiled evilly. "So he did kill people…"

_Did the fighter units he defeat die by him or did they just never showed their face again?_

**Depends what you mean, but I saw one of the fight units without a sacrifice.**

_Was the sacrifice dead?_

**The fighter unit didn't say anything. All she did was cry like the pussy she was.**

… _Is there someone impersonating Seimei?_

**Yes.**

Ritsuka changed his question fast because he was thinking about his mother. She tried to restrain him in his own house and prevented him from going to school. She said that Seimei told her to do it, but something told him that that person wasn't Seimei. Even Soubi knew that.

_What does he look like?_

**He had long hair and cat ears as well as a car tail although they did seem fake.**

Ritsuka grinned evilly. He hit the jackpot. That person was not his brother. His brother had short hair.

**It is time that I ask you questions.**

_What do you mean?_

**Your whereabouts.**

_I told you, I'm far away from Soubi._

**It's not good to be away from your fighter unit. He could die for all we know.**

_Shut up!_

The aura around Ritsuka was so dark it was almost suffocating.

**Sorry, Loveless, but now I ask you are you in another world?**

_And what if I said I yes?_

**How did you get there?**

_A watch._

**I see. Was this watch given to you?**

_Yes. To get away from the pain._

**Running away from the truth yet trying to find out about Seimei in that world. Pathetic.**

_What?_

**You will not get anymore questions from me unless you tell me about something about that 'world.'**

_What do you mean?_

**Have you met someone who reminds you of Seimei...or perhaps Soubi?**

_I…_

Ritsuka didn't finish typing his sentence because he was lost in thought. Giving information about another world is dangerous no doubt. Septimal Moon would believe when other people wouldn't. That's what ticked him off. He wouldn't say anything about Sano.

**Have you met anybody that you thought was different from the rest?**

_Yes._

**Who is this person? Is it a boy or girl? Is it someone you-**

_I will not speak of him as a play thing._

**So it's a he. How old is he. Is he good looking. Does he have anything unique about him? Is he from an endangered species.**

Ritsuka realized that Septimal Moon was trying to find out about Sano.

_I will not say anymore._

**Then you will get no more information until you tell us about this person.**

_What do you plan to do with him?_

**I will not answer your question.**

_You-_

**Good-bye, and don't talk to me again until you tell us about this person.**

_WAIT!_

Septimal Moon got offline. A counter then appeared on the screen. Ritsuka's face darken. "They're getting smart…"

The counter turned out to be a time bomb when it reached zero. The computer blew up in Ritsuka's face, shocking everyone that was there.

"Ritsuka, what happened?" Sano asked the cat boy.

Ritsuka did not respond. He just grinned evilly. "What an evil organization." Was all he said. He had the face of evil despite being a child. That looked scared Sano. He didn't want to look at it, so he opened his book and continued reading.

* * *

The match was soon over as Kousuke won the first round by tricking his opponent into closing his eyes and then hitting him with the Sacred Treasure Pick. The fighters returned to the real world. Ritsuka, who was already pissed off, announced. "The fat guy lost, so I'm going to poke him."

Sano looked at him like he was crazy. If he poked him with his sharp claws then. "Don't you dare-"

Ritsuka pokes Yun-Pao with his sharp claws, but accidentally pops him.

"Oops…" Was all Ritsuka said, but he had an unapologetic look on his face. 

"Oops my ass!" Sano shouted as he turned away from the scene. The blood splattered everywhere on the cake making it look like red icing more than anything.

"That's horrible..." Rinko mumbled as she covered her mouth as if trying to stop herself from hurling.

"You bastard! Why did you kill your own teammate?!" Kousuke asked him.

Ritsuka showed the green haired teen his evil face causing shivers to run down his spine."Because he lost. Got a problem with that? And it's not like I expected him to splat like that…" Ritsuka's face turned childish. "It's his fault for eating too much anyway."

"You-"

"Moving on to the next match." Robert declared. "Since Ueki's team won, they get to pull the lever."

Ai decided to pull the lever. When she did, the battlefield was the Tsuki no Curse stage.

"What's that?" Kousuke asked.

"The name itself means Curse of the Moon…" Rinko said but she sounded so unsure.

Ai would find out that her opponent would be Ritsuka. After what the cat boy just did to his teammate, Ai was upset...even terrified to fight the young boy. 

The cat boy showed a childish frown. "…Do I have to fight?"

"You're the one who wanted to fight so badly at the beginning." Sano said in a rather harsh tone.

"But against her?!" Ritsuka asked as he pointed to her.

"GO YOU PUSSY!" Carpaccio yelled.

"Shut up, Carpaccio!" Ritsuka shouted.

The two were going to fight again. Sano sighed as he put on a fake heavenly smile on. Despite the heavenly smile there was a red vein on his head. "Off you go!"

Sano pushes Ritsuka off of the edge that the Robert 10 are standing on. Ritsuka was disappearing as he was going to be transported to the next battlefield.

"I hate you." Ritsuka spat directly at Sano.

"I love you too." Sano responded sarcastically. The smile he wore on his face was as sinister as his own. 

Ritsuka looked away from the smile. "I don't want to see that face again…"

Ai didn't want to fight, but maybe she had a chance with Ritsuka. She could reason with him and then maybe just maybe…

She was taken away to the battlefield. The battlefield itself was very normal, but had a very bad vibe at the same time. It was dark, very dark. The only light came from the moon from the sky, but slowly, it was changing from white to red. They were in a forest that made it impossible to see and were given a necklace that was worn around their neck.

"The rules are simple." Robert began. "Take the necklace by any means necessary. The way without violence is just to snatch the necklace from them. However, you may knock out your opponent. And just for this match, I WILL allow killing."

"WHAT?!" Ai yelled.

"Begin the match!"

While Team Ueki was trying to talk to Ai through the glass, Ai was still in a state of panic. How could she take it from Ritsuka when she couldn't even see him.

 _But if I can't see him, then he can't see me. S_ he thought.

She was wrong as she felt a claw scratch at her face. Blood fell from her cheek.

"I missed…" Ritsuka mumbled.

Ai turned in the direction of the voice. "H-How did you?"

Ritsuka smiled evilly. "I'm a cat. Cats can see in the dark very easily. They can also hear things well, so you're out of luck." He then held up three fingers that could be seen under the moon. "Three chances is all you got before I kill you. If you manage to survive all three chances I get, then you will automatically win."

Ai was confused and scared. Would he really kill her, and what did the three chances mean?

Ritsuka looked at the moon. It was almost red. "You might want to start running."

Ai fumed. "Why should I run? I could take your necklace if you get that careless!"

"I'm not being careless." Ritsuka said in a dark voice. "I'm just warning you. I don't want anyone to complain if I kill you when I gave you a fair warning."

His face was becoming darker by the second. "Last chance…"

Ai was still mad at him. "Don't you dare mock me!"

Then it happened. Ritsuka's body was changing. That innocent cat face morphed into one of a crazed killer. His body was growing bigger and bigger. His claws were growing sharper by the second. His eyes were as red as the moon itself. He was becoming a cat demon.

All but Robert and Carpaccio were stunned at the transformation.

"I forgot to mention," Robert began, "Ritsuka transforms into that hideous form when the moon is up in the sky at night and is red. When he's in this form, there is no reasoning. It's all about survival."

"You bastard!" Kousuke swore.

"The stage was chosen at random. I have no control over it."

"Damnit…"

Sano was stunned when he saw Ritsuka transform. Two days ago he didn't transform when the moon was up, so why was he transforming now?

"So he finally shows his true colors!" Carpaccio declared.

"W-What do you mean?" Sano questioned him.

"Didn't you know that whenever there is a red moon, there is always a murder that is followed after that? You know, two days ago he killed five people."

Sano's face became pale. "He did, but he didn't-"

"I bet he doesn't want you to change his opinion about him. He may say he's a pacifist," Carpaccio's face became dark as his eyes showed murderous intentions, "but deep down, he's a sadomasochist who relishes in the suffering of his opponents."

Sano wouldn't believe it, he just wouldn't.

"And it's all because of that watch." Carpaccio added.

Sano froze. That watch that transported Ritsuka to this world came with a price. What he is in his world he's the opposite in this world. Sano opened his book again to see that the watch was on the next page. Ritsuka entrusted him with the watch.

On the battlefield, Ritsuka gave a nasty stare toward Ai. Ai froze in fear. She wanted to run, but couldn't.

"RUN MORI!" Kousuke yelled from the glass. He could not see her, (nobody can see them except when Ritsuka is in the cat demon form) but he knew that she would here him.

Kousuke's words encouraged her to run away. Ritsuka didn't go after all because he was still in control, but soon the cat demon mind will take over.

 _I can't beat that thing!_ Ai convinced herself.  _There's no way I could!_

Ai could hear the trees being cut and falling down to the side of her to trap her. She just continued running for her life. She could hear its footsteps closing in on her. Eventually the trees didn't fall anymore as the footsteps stopped. The red moon turned back to white. She could hear the cat boy's voice again, and it wasn't demonic.

 _I get it. He turns back into a regular cat boy when the moon is white. When the moon is red, he'll turn into a cat demon. While he's in that form I can take his necklace._ Ai thought to herself.  _I may be able to win after all._

Ai turned around to see that Ritsuka was back in his cat boy form.

"You figured it out." Ritsuka told her. "But even when I'm in my normal form, you still won't beat me one on one."

Ai had a shocked look on her face. "I forgot about that!"

Ritsuka lashed at her with his claw, but he missed the necklace again and ended up scarring the left part of her body. Blood dropped from that wound.

"You got to fight girl." Ritsuka began. "Otherwise, I only ended up wasting my time when I could be on that computer."

While Ritsuka was complaining about the Septimal Moon group, Ai took the chance to flee. She had to think of a way to fight him one on one. The only thing that she could think of was to use a weapon to match his claws. But she wasn't good at weapons since she had zero fighting experience.

"What to do?!" She asked herself.

She finally found a cave where she could hide in, but only for a few minutes. What she found in it made her smile. There was a bow and four arrows. She could use these to shoot the necklace off of Ritsuka and take it to win the game. The only problem…she never shot an arrow before.

"I don't know the first thing about archery!" She cried out.

She took the bow and the arrows and put the arrows on her back as she tried to figure out how to use the bow properly. Unknown to her, the moon was almost red. Ritsuka who was still in his normal form snapped his fingers to bring Ai to where he was.

"The power to teleport things from one place to another…" He mumbled as the moon became red. He transformed into the demon form again.

Ai was still stunned at the fact that she was revealed without finishing how to use a bow correctly. "Oh no…"

"Die…" He said in a low tone.

He slashed at her again, but missed the necklace yet again. He cut her right shoulder. She groaned in pain as the blood slid from her shoulder to her elbow.

"Why do I keep missing?" Ritsuka asked himself out loud. "I should be able to slice her in half with these claws."

While Ritsuka was complaining about why he was missing, Ai took the chance to flee. As long as her legs weren't injured, she could run away from him as long as he didn't use that talent again since it seemed like it took a toll on him.

Ai made it to the place where she found the cave. She looked at the moon. It was still red, but it was shining brightly. She could see the cat demon from where she was. She took this chance to address the target. It was difficult though to address the target. Since she was using the arm with the injured shoulder to hold the bow and the other hand to knock an arrow. She aimed at Ritsuka who was moving toward her. She only had to hit the necklace and that was it. She fired the arrow, and lady luck must have been on her side today as the arrow hit the string on the necklace. The necklace fell off of Ritsuka's neck.

 _Yes!_ Ai thought to herself, _All I have to do now is retrieve the necklace and I win!_

Ai proceeded to move toward Ritsuka when the moon was white which it was. The cat demon turned back into Ritsuka. The cat boy noticed that his necklace was knocked off and smiled. _All I got to do now is make it look like I lost officially and Team Ueki will win._ Ritsuka thought to himself. He took the necklace and fled into the forest.

Ai noticed this and quickly knocked an arrow. She fired it at Ritsuka. The arrow hit his leg as he tripped and fell over. Ai then quickly moved through the forest to where Ritsuka was. The arrow was embedded deep into his skin. Ritsuka struggled to pull it out, but it wouldn't come out. He started to panic. Ai noticed this. He tried many methods to pull it out, but the arrow wouldn't come out. Ai noticed how vulnerable Ritsuka looked. She knew that he wasn't pulling it out the right way that would take the least amount of blood. She came out hiding and walked over to Ritsuka who glared at her.

"Go away before I sink my claws into your flesh." Ritsuka said in a dark tone.

Ai refused to listen as she went over to him and took the arrow out of his leg easily. He was stunned. She sighed. "You're suppose to take the arrow out by the point and then pull it out. You don't pull on the feathers."

"Don't lecture me..." Ritsuka said in his immature voice.

Ai smiled. Despite Ritsuka having a scaring form, he was not like the Robert 10 who killed brutally. It must have been that form. She didn't think that Ritsuka had a split personality.

"…Thank you…" Ritsuka said at last to break the silence.

Ai grinned. "Your welcome." She looked at his necklace that he clutched in his hands. "I win." She said as she was about to take the necklace from Ritsuka as payment when the moon suddenly turned red. This stunned both of them.

"The moon isn't suppose to turn red that fast!" Ritsuka exclaimed. He gave the gesture to run, but it was already too late as his hand moved on it's own and seized her neck. He held her up in the air as his transformation started again. The scared look on his face turned into an evil grin as his transformation finished.

"Three strikes and you're out." Ritsuka told her as he used his free hand to rip off the necklace from her neck.

Outside, everyone knew who was winning because Ritsuka cat demon form was huge and that he had her in his grasps.

"(Ki…) (Should you tell Ritsuka to stop? He's going all out.)"

"…(I can't Sonson. If I do then the plan is ruined.)"

"(Ki!) (It will be ruined if one of them dies!)"

Sano didn't say anything as he grasps the watch in his hands tightly. Ritsuka wouldn't kill her, would he? He noticed that he had the necklace in his hand, but she didn't have his necklace, so Ritsuka should have already been declared the winner. Sano checked Robert's expression and he was grinning evilly. He wasn't planning on calling the match anytime soon just to watch Team Ueki crumble with the death of their friend that had no chance of winning from the start.

"That's it Ritsuka, strangle her to death!" Carpaccio cheered.

"Let Mori go, you bastard!" Kousuke cursed on the other side.

Sano was losing hope. If he didn't do anything then the plan would be ruined. Robert would hate someone trying to interfere with the match, but this was a life and death situation.

_I'm sorry!_

Sano activated the watch by transferring some of his healing powers into it. It was bound to have a reverse effect on Ritsuka, and sure enough there was an effect. The effect caused him to become dizzy forcing himself to release Ai from his death grip. She fell to the ground unconscious. He gripped onto his head like there was a noise in his head. The moon itself was turning white at a fast pace.

"What's happening?" Carpaccio questioned. He turned to Sano to see if he knew the answer only to give him a death glare to see what he was doing.

"(Ki!) (Seichiro!)"

Sano was using most of his strength to get Ritsuka to turn back into his original form that he didn't notice that the hunter Kabara was trying to stop him from interfering with the match. That was a mistake that would cost him greatly. He touched the watch when Sano was still transferring energy into it. That caused a chain reaction that made the watch explode. The price for Kabara was his hair which was a mess. Nothing can fix it now. For Sano, he collapsed.

Ritsuka was back into his regular form before the watch was touched. He ended up fainting as well next to Ai. While the match should have been declared a draw, Robert announced that Ritsuka was the winner.

* * *

Ritsuka came around when Ai did, he shook his head to wake himself up.

 _What happened? H_ e asked himself. _I remember turning into that form and almost killing that girl, and then Sano tried to reverse the effect of my form, and it worked…but why did I faint?_

He looked around to see that Sano was next to him. He went over him and felt his pulse. He was still okay. He looked at Carpaccio who was giving him a death glare though. He shivered fearing the worst.

"H-Hello?"

"You planned to betray us from the start?"

Ritsuka's eyes widen when he found out the truth, but he decided to lie his way through. "I don't know what you're talking about."

That resulted in Ritsuka getting punched in the face by the blond. While Team Ueki was paying attention to Ai that they didn't have enough time to witness this scene. He fell to the ground.

"Don't treat me as a stupid fool like you did yesterday!" Carpaccio told him. "If you do then I won't hesitate to kill you even if you are Robert's favorite."

Ritsuka wiped his cheek that was covered with blood. He grinned. "Well sorry if I am his favorite."

Carpaccio decided to get him later as he walked back to the light as they were all in the shadows.

Sano slowly woke up. He found himself in the shadows where Ritsuka was.

"Glad you're awake." Ritsuka said.

Sano slowly turned toward Ritsuka dizzily. "What happened?"

"You saved someone's life. That's what you did. You also kept with the plan if Robert tried to pull something." Ritsuka explained.

"That's good…"

Sano's eyes widen when he saw Ritsuka's leg was still bleeding because of the arrow that Ai shot in it. "You're still bleeding!"

"It's nothing-"

Ritsuka was quickly cut off as Sano used his healing powers to heal the cat boy's leg. The cat boy frowned. "Keep using your powers and you'll be tired before you get to fight."

"I don't care. I'm not letting someone close to me die again." Sano said as he hid his eyes under his towel. Soon the wound was all healed up. The cat boy was able to walk again.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention…it…" Sano said as he tried to catch his breathe. Using his healing powers too much takes a lot out of him.

Sonson peeked out of Sano's kimono and told them the results of the battle.

"I lost fair and square, so why does it show that I won?!" Ritsuka questioned the monkey.

"Because the Robert 10 are assholes." Sano told him while giving him the hand gesture of you know what.

"That pisses me off."

"That's what you get Ritsuka for trying to do something behind my back!" Carpaccio shouted. His voice rang in their ears. Because of that obnoxious voice, they had to cover their ears.

"Dammit, I was tricked this time…" Ritsuka mumbled to himself as he proceeded to walk outside.

Sano didn't say anything as he followed him. Before that though, he checked the watch. It was still okay as it had no scratches on it.

On Team Ueki's side, Ai was okay despite her injuries. Though the bleeding did stop, it still showed. Kousuke mumbled to himself that he would never forgive the Robert 10 for what they did to her.

 _Ritsuka is not like the Robert 10 though…_ Ai thought to herself.

Robert appeared on the screen again and said that even though Ai lost, she was still in the game because of the interference that happened on his team. While Ai was crying her eyes out Inumaru knew that if Sano didn't interfere with the match then Ai would have died.

Kousuke pulled the lever. Rinko was going to fight next against Kabara. When Kabara appeared though…his head was shining. Ritsuka was the first one to roll over and laugh his ass.

"Who is that?!" Sano questioned.

"Kabara, when'd you shave your head?" Carpaccio asked with a hint that there was some sarcasm in it.

Ritsuka stopped rolling over as he and Sano asked. "That's Kabara?!"

Kabara gave a mean stare at Sano. "I won't forgive you for this."

Sano sweatdropped, "What did I do?"

"(Ooooo ki…) (When he touched the watch, it exploded resulting in his hair falling off. He had to shave the rest off or he would look bad.)"

"In other words it was his fault…" Sano said with a sigh.

Ritsuka grinned. "You look better bald than you did with that pretty boy hair on you. Not like you were a pretty boy or anything unlike someone."

Kabara glared at them. "You be quiet Ritsuka! Otherwise, when this match is over, I will kill you."

"Go ahead and try!"

"Don't start another fight…"

The battlefield was the cat field. Rinko and Kabara disappeared and were on the battlefield as everyone else was transported into the box. The fighters apparently were shrunk to be smaller than the cats. When the first cat appeared…

"That cat is so cute!" Ai declared.

"You've got to be kidding me…she's small compared to that cat." Tenko, the Heavenly Beast, grumbled. "And how many do you think there are in there?"

There were a lot of cats, but that only made the situation worse, but not in Ritsuka's case.

"HEY GIRLS! WAKE UP AND LOOK AT ME!" Ritsuka shouted.

"How do you know they're all girls?" Sano asked the cat boy.

Ritsuka gave him a cat like look. "I'm a cat, so I know if they're a male of a female."

"I'll never ask that question again…"

* * *

**I TOLD YOU I WAS GOING TO SKIP THE MATCH!**

With her knowledge about the cat's likes and dislikes, Rinko was able to defeat Kabara at his own game resulting in the score being 2 to 1. While Team Ueki was congratulating Rinko for winning (and Ai scolding her for going too far) on the Robert 10 side, Kabara (who was eaten by the cat making Rinko win) was having a nightmare about getting eaten by a cat.

"What's wrong with him?" Sano asked.

"He's having nightmares about getting eaten by a cat." Carpaccio answered. "He'll be having that dream for a while."

Ritsuka's eyes became dark. "How about forever?"

Sano glared at the cat boy. "Don't you dare-"

Ritsuka sighed. "It's not me to judge. That's what he gets for touching my watch. For losing the match, he will be plagued by that nightmare until the end of time," he got his claws out, "Which is all the reason why I should end his misery."

Sano was about to say something else when Robert appeared on the screen again saying that it was time to begin the next match. Kousuke pulled the lever, and his name appeared as well as Sano's. The field was the rope jumping field.

 _What does that have to do with Sano again?_ Ritsuka asked himself.

"(Ki…) (Monkeys are known for jumping around all over the place…)"

_So…Robert is addressing Sano as a monkey…_

"(Ki…) (Seichiro is a monkey…or a half-monkey anyway.)"

Sano had the expression on his face that he didn't want to fight. He would have made up an excuse (and possibly get away with it) if it hadn't been for Carpaccio who gave him a death glare that said. "Back out now, and he dies."

Kousuke and Sano were teleported to the battlefield as everyone else was teleported to the box to watch the match, Ritsuka had already killed Kabara when Sano was looking away.

"What is this place?" Kousuke asked. "It's pretty hot."

"It's like a sauna." Sano told him flatly.

Robert appeared on the screen. "The rules are simple. Fight while jumping rope, you either knock the opponent out or kick them off the field."

Kousuke looked at the rope. "That's a thick rope!"

"It's at least fifty centimeters thick." Sano explained.

"But note that there's nothing but magma down there." Robert added. "Oh, and watch out because that rope is high voltage.

"Don't add the obvious statements, Robert!" Ritsuka complained.

Before the match started Kousuke told something to Sano.

"Sano, to be honest I don't want to fight you. So I'm thinking of tying this one."

Sano was relieved that Kousuke felt the same way of this battle too, but he decided not to show it. "What? A tie? What if you tie here and then Mori or Inumaru has to fight in the next battle? Mori's a normal person with no special powers at all, and Inumaru is a God Candidate so he can't use his powers. Are you going to risk their lives?"

Kousuke was shocked at that statement.

"And what's more..." Sano continued. "...if your team loses, you will all die."

"I just wanted to get you out of the 10..."

"(Ki!) (That's so sweet!)"

Sano would have thought the same thing, but instead he decided to add more dialogue to continue playing the role of the evil rival. "Ueki, let me tell you something. I didn't join the 10 because I was forced to. I joined of my own free will."

Ritsuka was about to yell at him to quit lying, but he understood the situation. If he told Kousuke that he was forced to join the 10 to save his God Candidate then Kousuke would have had went easy on him and really try for a draw.

"T-That can't be!" Inumaru shouted.

Sano was already fired up and ready to start the battle.

"(Kiiooo.) (Don't strain yourself Seichiro.)"

Sano chose to ignore Sonson's statement. He had already used most of his healing powers, so he was typically warn out. Although the Robert 10 already knew that they were forcing him to fight when he was already tired, Kousuke noticed only by him slumping slightly. It was very hard to notice.

Kousuke turned to Inumaru. "Dog man, sorry, but I'm going to crush your student, but I'll only knock him out and not out of the ring. Okay?"

Inumaru didn't want either of them to lose, but he replied, "Understood."

_That's fine. This is all I can do for now since they found out about Ritsuka, but with me there is still a chance. Besides, I always wanted a serious fight with you._

* * *

**Let's skip the battle scene shall we?**

As Kousuke and Sano were going all out, Kousuke noticed something very important and it wasn't the fact that he wasn't fighting that seriously despite Sano telling him to fight seriously. It was the look in his eyes. They were the type of eyes that despised fighting. They seemed to fill with sorrow every time that he was injured despite him smiling.

Eventually the match soon ended with Kousuke knocking Sano off the area with his Kurogane attack. While in reality it did hardly any damage at all, Sano made it look like that he took a direct hit as he almost fell off out of the area. He grabbed the edge of the area though and held on.

"SANO!" Kousuke shouted. " _Crap! I hit him too far!_ Hang on Sano! I'll come help you!"

Sano didn't want that. If Kousuke helped him then Inumaru would die.

Sonson peaked out of Sano's kimono. "Oooo…(I can't believe your going to forfeit the match…)"

"It's okay Sonson. _I still got an ace up my sleeve._ "

Sano slowly let go of the edge until…

"Wait a second there, Sano! There is no way you'd fall go down from that level of damage. If you plan on losing deliberately, I'm going to change my promise!"

Sano froze instantly as Ritsuka gave Carpaccio a mean glare. "YOU BASTARD!"

"Lose, and he dies!"

"You bastard! I only promised to defeat twenty combatants! I didn't promise to never lose! I won't accept those terms!" Sano told him.

"I won't either!" Ritsuka said as he got out his claws letting to burry them in Carpaccio's skin, but he was too slow because Carpaccio read him. He punched the cat boy in the stomach sending him flying in the direction of the punch.

Kousuke wanted to know what they were talking about, but he couldn't listen to them if the rope was still moving so he jumped into the hole that he made using his Pick in order to get the rope to stop because there was no vibration.

"Sano, What deal? Who are you talking about?" Kousuke asked him.

Sano didn't respond.

"Curious eh? I'll tell you!" Carpaccio announced as he kicked Ritsuka one last time.

"Carpaccio! You promised you wouldn't!" Sano screamed.

Carpaccio laughed. "At this point, I might as well spill the beans! Besides I want to see Ueki's face when he hears this!" Carpaccio turned to Inumaru. "Hey! Sano's God Candidate! Inumaru right?"

"Huh?!"

"Why don't you ask somebody to check out the back of your back?"

"What?"

Ai checked the back of his neck, "What's this? A mole shaped like a pentagon!"

"?! A pentagon?"

"YUP! Death Pentagon, the bloodsucking celestial creature! I asked Ritsuka to fetch it and secretly planted it on you! It can only be removed by the one who attached it, namely me because I took the privilege of Ritsuka being able to remove it! The bug's asleep now, thanks to an anesthetic, but once I give the orders it'll wake up and suck Inumaru dry in under ten seconds!" Carpaccio explained.

"Why on earth would you do that?!" Rinko questioned the sadist.

Inumaru seem to have understood why he had the Death Pentagon on his back. "Hm…is that why?"

"RIGHT! Sano joined the Robert 10 because I promised to remove the Death Pentagon if he defeated twenty combatants! HE JOINED US FOR **YOUR** SORRY SAKE!"

Inumaru's world seem to have fallen apart when he heard that. "Oh no! Sano-kun did all this…for me?"

"So," Kousuke began, "when Sano said that he chose to join you…he was…"

"Lying to make you attack him for real."

Sano was furious that Carpaccio told his secret, but there was nothing he could do to change that. "Dammit! Why'd you have to blurt it all out?"

"Don't worry! As long as Inumaru's here in Dogra's Mansion, he can't stop you! Meanwhile if you defeat the last two combatants, Ueki and Rinko, you'll reach the magic number!" Carpaccio reassured him.

"Sano-kun are you crazy! Why didn't you tell me?" Inumaru asked him.

"What would you have done…if I'd told you? You'd have stopped me from joining the Robert 10, right? Then you'd have died!"

"But you're the one who hated their dirty tactics the most! You betrayed even your sense of justice to save me…"

"Wanko…do you remember…that day six months ago?" Sano questioned him. 

When Sano asked him this, Inumaru remembered what Sano told him when he and Sano saved the child from the fire. He remembered Sano's sense and justice then.

"Ever since that day…I never thought of you as my God Candidate. If I did, I wouldn't have joined the battle. Wanko…to me, you're my **best friend**! What good is justice if I can't protect my best friend's life?"

"Sano-kun…"

"Kii…(So basically, I'm not your best friend after all we've been through…)" Sonson said sarcastically.

Carpaccio continued to laugh evilly. "Well, well! I'll let you on one more secret! The poison in the armlets you're wearing doesn't work on Celestial beings or Genomes! If Ueki's team loses, only Mori and Rinko will die! Inumaru's safe! In other words Sano, if you win, your precious Inumaru will live! So defeat Ueki now!" Carpaccio commanded.

Sano's muscles began to tighten. He turned to Carpaccio. "ARE YOU CRAZY?! You want to choose who gets to live and die? How can I do that?!"

"You can do that easily. Inumaru is your precious "best friend" isn't he? Then you only have one choice." Carpaccio's face turned dark. "What does a Genome have to lose?"

Kousuke who was listening to the whole thing was in turmoil as well as Sano. "If I win, Dog man dies…and if I lose, Mori, and Rinko will die. I can't make a choice like that!"

While the two were struggling to figure out what they would do, Carpaccio snickered. In the end, he would get his way unless Ritsuka did something to mess it up, but in his condition, it wasn't possible so the chance of him getting what he wanted was 99.9 percent. His plan backfired when Inumaru laughed. Everyone turned to him like he was crazy.

"Oh my…how could I have known? Because of me, Sano-kun and Ueki-kun are suffering! Because of me, Mori-san and Rinko-san are in mortal danger! Because of my ignorance, I almost made a fatal mistake!" Inumaru turned to Carpaccio's side of the field. "Carpaccio. Like you said, there's only one answer…but I'm not about to give you the one answer…but I'm not about to give you the one you want! My answer is…this!" Inumaru then moved his hand in Ai's direction. That surprised everyone. "A God Candidate giving powers to two humans…that's one of the most serious violations of the battle rules!"

"WHAT?"

"A candidate who breaks this rule is automatically sent to Hell."

Inumaru smiled his last smile. "Sano-kun…you were my best friend, too. I'm glad I met you."

"No way! You can't do it!" Ai told him.

"Wanko! Don't do it!" Sano pleaded.

Rinko tried to stop him, but something was preventing her from moving as well as Ai. He started transferring powers into her.

"What are you babbling about? This is Dogra Mansion, a theme park in Hell! How can you be sent to Hell when you're already here?" Carpaccio questioned him. "And I can activate the Death Pentagon anytime, no matter where you hide!"

Inumaru's face darkened, "We may already be in Hell, but I'm headed for the Death Prison! All Celestials imprisoned there are executed! So, you see, there's no point in threatening to kill me anymore!"

Inumaru was correct so there was nothing Carpaccio could do about it. The blackmail was done.

"Stop, Wanko! I joined the Robert 10 to save you! I don't want you to die!" Sano continued to plea.

"Sano-kun, can you defeat Ueki-kun to save me? Even if it means the deaths of Mori-san and Rinko-san? That's exactly what Carpaccio wants! If that happened…I'd never forgive myself! Anyway…" Inumaru directed his sad smile to Sano, "You've done enough Sano-kun. You even betrayed your own beliefs for my sake. This sacrifice of yours has touched me deeply."

"Dog man…"

"Sano let me tell you the truth...when I heard your dream, I thought it was weird…and I was baffled. Offered infinite power, how could he choose to build a hot spring resort?"

That comment change Sano's expression greatly.

"But…now I get it! If the Talent of Blank exists to change this hopeless world…it'll only work if it's used to make people happier, even with a trivial thing like an inn!"

Inumaru finished transferring powers to Ai.

"Now time to say…good-bye…"

A portal appeared behind Inumaru ready to take him away to the Death Prison. When Kousuke witnessed this scene, he remembered Kobasen doing the same thing for him. Risking his life for him and Ai and losing his chance to become the new God. He pictured his teacher right next to Inumaru.

"Sano-kun! _Ueki!_ Follow your own path! _Live the way you want!_ **This is your life!** " Inumaru (and Kobasen) told their students.

"Why? Come on, why?" Kobasen…Dog man…how can you disappear when we need you?!" Kousuke questioned Inumaru since Kobasen was never there in the first place.

"Because this is our justice." Inumaru answered.

That was all Kousuke needed to know.

"Ueki-kun, please take care of Sano-kun." He pleaded. He then turned to Sano. "Sano-kun! I was really happy to be your God Candidate."

"Wanko…" Sano mumbled as he successfully got his elbows up on top of the edge.

"You're my best friend and I'm very proud of you!" Inumaru takes off his hat at last. "…Farewell Sano-kun!"

The portal then took Inumaru away and disappeared leaving no trace of him. There was nothing but silence except the sobs that were coming from Sano and Sonson.

"Why? Why! WHY IS IT FAREWELL INUMARU!"

Sano wasn't the only one who was crying. Ai and Rinko also shed tears.

 _Damnit! It's the same thing with Kobasen! I couldn't do anything! I couldn't save Dog man!_ Kousuke thought to himself.

Carpaccio ruined the sad moment by laughing bitterly.

"What's so funny?" Kousuke asked him angrily.

"Oh, I was just laughing at Inumaru's stupidity! He was a real fool to throw his life away for the useless Mori Ai and Rinko! I never dreamed that someone would throw away a chance to be God for something like that! He got one up me, I guess!"

As Carpaccio continued talking trash about Inumaru, Sano was getting furious by the minute where it would be almost to dangerous to get near him. He wasn't the only one enraged by the comments though.

"I imagine that you wouldn't understand…" Kousuke mumbled to him which got his attention. "You think nothing of threatening people. You could never understand how Sano and Dog Man felt."

Sano's rage seem to have vanished as Kousuke stood up for him. "Ueki…"

"Using people's friendship as a tool…can you still call yourself a human?!" His face became filled with hate. "I'll never forgive you! Come down right now! I'm going to kick you ass!"

"Ueki…"

"Kick my ass, you say? Sounds fun. I accept your challenge. Or I'd like to, except this box is in a different space than that outside. I can't really come down there," Carpaccio turned to the TV screen. "Hey, Robert, what should I do?

Robert gave no thought into it and said. "I guess there's no choice. If you're both okay with it then I'll change the rules."

Robert snapped his fingers making Sano and Carpaccio switch places so Carpaccio was on the battlefield and Sano was in the box with Ritsuka.

"Oh…I'm out." Carpaccio said.

Sano wasn't pleased. "What the hell? Why do I have to be locked in the box? Carpaccio! I want to kick you ass as much as Ueki does! Let me out of here!"

"KI! (ME TOO!)" Sonson shouted finally appearing out of Sano's kimono.

"Too bad. The battlefield can only have two fighters on it at the same time. If I use a special mechanism to bring Carpaccio, of course this is what happens." Robert explained.

_Dammit!_

Carpaccio laughed yet again, "Don't worry Sano, once I kill Ueki, I'll kill Ritsuka before I get to you."

"Oh, by the way. Since Ueki-kun and Sano-kun didn't finish…we'll restart the fourth battle from the beginning."

Robert's announcement stunned everyone.

"From now on, if Ueki's team loses this battle in a row Mori-san and Rinko will die."

"Why? I completely lost that battle! They've won three matches, so the game should be over!" Sano protested.

When Carpaccio responded with a evil laugh, Sano knew that they were had in order to piss Kousuke off.

Kousuke shook his fist in anger. "Carpaccio, how cowardly are you going to get? I WON'T FORGIVE YOU!"

* * *

**And we skip the battle scene again because I'm too lazy to write it.**

After believing himself in not dying before he beat the crap out of Carpaccio, Kousuke managed to win with the help of Tenko who he slipped off during one of Carpaccio's attack to trick into thinking what move he was going to use. While the battle was happening, Sano was busy healing Ritsuka's wounds, but that didn't stop him from watching the match from the beginning to the end. Sonson noticed that Kousuke could have easily knocked out Carpaccio with one Pick attack because of using Tenko to help, but he hit him with Pick first forcing him to use his powers to switch places with Kousuke only to get squashed by Mash. The reason for this was Kousuke was listening to Sano's pleas which was to punch him in the face one more time after Kousuke landed a sucker punch on him.

"FEEL THEIR VENGEANCE!" Kousuke yelled as he gave him one big punch that knocked Carpaccio out. "Regret it, Carpaccio."

With that, Team Ueki was announced the winner as the contestants were transported to the real world, but not before Kousuke heard Sano say. "Thank you."

Once a banner appeared over Team Ueki's head to congratulate them for clearing Dogra's mansion the prizes were given out which were a free pass to Dogra's mansion, a Dogra's trophy that had a cake with a cats head below it and below the cat was a cake with a foot below it. The last thing was replaying the clips of Ai's worst moments in her match.

Ai fumed at all the lame prizes as Rinko tried to cheer her up. By then, Ritsuka was fully healed. The cat boy teleported himself as well as Sano and Sonson over to Kousuke's side of the field.

"Hello." Ritsuka greeted to Ai. He only got an evil glare as a return greeting. With Ai glaring at Ritsuka, Sano quickly healed Ai's leg which only took seconds to heal. She didn't even notice that the wound was gone.

 _Keep this up Seichiro and you'll be unable to move your body for a while._ Sonson thought to herself as she noticed that her master was worn out from healing too many times in one day.

Robert appeared on the screen to congratulate Team Ueki. "The Robert 10 is nothing but history now! Congratulations Ueki!"

Kousuke ignored the congrats. "Robert? Do you remember your promise?"

"Sure. I promised to grant one wish if you won. Okay, name it."

Kousuke pointed to him. "STOP HIDING AND GET DOWN HERE NOW! FIGHT ME!" He demanded.

Robert frowned. "I don't recommend that. You can't win against me."

"We'll never know until we try!"

"No, I know. I've been observing you. Besides why do you want to fight me?"

"Because…Kobasen was sent to Hell because I was too weak to beat you. So for Kobasen who saved me…I've got to defeat you!" Kousuke answered. "Anyway, you were planning to erase the world and put The Robert 10 in charge if you won, right? Even if The Robert 10 are gone, I can't let someone like you get the talent of blank!"

Robert smiled sinisterly. "I see…but you misunderstand one thing. Since The Robert 10 and kaput, I can tell you," he let his secret out, "Giving power to The Robert 10...that was a lie I made to control them. They were dim, weren't they? When I erase this world, everyone will die, including The Robert 10. This planet itself will vanish."

That secret shocked everyone, but mostly Rinko since it seemed that Ritsuka knew what Robert was talking about again.

"WHAT?! You've been deceiving us? Even me?" Rinko questioned. "Did you intend to kill me from the beginning?"

"That's what erasing the world means, doesn't it? But it's moot since The Robert 10 turned out to be useless. By the way Rinko, I didn't expect you to betray me. You loved me, didn't you?"

Rinko flinched at that question.

"Yes, I knew. We've known each other for too long. But to be honest, you were the most **annoying** member. I tolerated you only because you were so easy to manipulate…and look at the thanks I got for my kindness."

Those words broke Rinko's heart. She broke down in tears. Ai was there to comfort her.

 _That bastard!_ Sano thought to himself.

"You sleaze! How **dare** you talk to her like that!" Ai said in an angry tone.

"How can you treat other people's feelings like nothing?" Kousuke asked him just as angry.

"Because they are nothing to me. You're a strange one. You're like me…a Celestial being raised by humans. In the long history of the Celestial World, we're probably the only two Celestials raised this way. I thought you would understand my desire to erase the human world. But since you were still a baby when we were dumped in the human world, and I was already two…I suppose it's only natural that you grew up differently."

_Kousuke left the Celestial World when he was a baby? That explains why he didn't know he was a Celestial Being. Robert must have grown up with the memories of the Celestial World and maybe even with the Celestial Weapons._

Kousuke was confused. "We were dropped from the Celestial World? What are you talking about?"

Rinko was able to stop crying very fast because she and Ritsuka knew why he acted like this. "Robert…you still bear a grudge over that incident?"

"What incident?" Kousuke asked her.

Rinko was debating whether to tell the story or not. "You see, Robert and I come from the same town.

"What? Really?" Ai questioned.

"We didn't know each other when we were kids. We only met recently. But everyone in town knew about Robert. I was six years old and Robert was about five when he moved to our town…"

"Sorry to cut you off girl, but I don't think you know the true story of why Robert hates humans." Ritsuka told her.

She turned to him confused as Ritsuka faced Sano. "You know what I told you last week about you having a sister?"

"Y-Yeah."

"And the fact that she was the Genome that Robert loved so much?"

Robert wanted him to stop right there, but he knew that Ritsuka wouldn't stop.

Sano nodded his head.

"I got the rest of the story of what really happened, so I'll tell all this now. Robert is doing this all to extract revenge for what the humans did to Midori…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: TBC with 9729 words. Notes!
> 
> 1\. Chobits is that CLAMP series about the females being androids. Collage student Hideki finds a Persicom in the trash and takes her home thinking that she was murdered only to find out that she was a Persicom. He activates her by touching 'that part' of her body. He names the Persicom Chi who has no data in her to do what Persicoms are suppose to do. Instead she learns them slowly like any regular human does. She turns out to be a rare robot species called the Chobits and some people will do anything to get their hands on her. A rated 16+ anime because of porn and sexual themes but has bad language in it. In chapter 8, I'll explain why Sano likes this series so much…but I'll give you a hint. It has to do with the book that Chi reads in the manga itself.
> 
> 2\. This scene makes me wonder why Inumaru entrusts Sano's safety in Kousuke's hands. Sano IS older than Kousuke so why does HE need protection? I see Sano's uke syndrome in front of me!


	7. Kousuke vs. Robert

_Life for Robert was hell, but Midori had it worst. As people were trying to kick a young Robert out of the village, everyone tried to kill Midori for having the eyes and tail of a snake. Her teeth were unusual because they were fangs and not human teeth. She always liked eating raw or alive meat because of her snake instincts. This led everyone to fear her as they feared that she could poison them with one bite from her fangs. This is of course false as she is a garden snake. Not a cobra.Unlike Robert though, Midori knew how to fight back easily, and didn't hesitate to harm the people who tried to hurt her. Even though she made more and more enemies, she continued to hurt them to protect herself. She had the right to._

_Midori lived in the village longer than Robert had, so she wondered why she was being attacked ever since Robert appeared in the town. She felt sorry for the kid who was only using his Celestial Powers to defend himself from the bullies, and people were trying to kick him out of town. She couldn't stand it, so for the first time in her life, she decided to defend someone that was like her, and that earned her Robert's trust. She also earned even more enemies that threatened to stalk and kill her, but that didn't stop her from helping Robert._

_Midori was good friends with the mayor who took care of her like his own daughter. She was able to convince him to allow Robert to stay in the village and had him stand up for the five year old. The mayor then put Robert in the orphanage with the other kids along with her where they had a happy family for a time. The bullying still didn't stop, but the orphans always defended Robert like family, so the number of times Robert picked on lessened, and if the going got tough then she would have to step in and defend in, which was what she had to do when she saw Robert alone on the playground crying._

" _Robert, what's wrong now?" She asked in a rather irritated tone. She always had a vain voice because of a snake's personality. This is another reason why people fear her._

" _-Sniff- Those mean people were throwing rocks at me again…" Robert cried._

_Midori sighed in irritation as she got out a handkerchief and cleaned the Celestial Being's face. "Those brats. I'll give them a lesson that they won't forget!"_

_She moved her handkerchief violently from him and started to punch the air. While it looked silly and somewhat frightening to see her punch the air, Robert thought it was amusing. He stopped crying eventually._

_"You don't have to be so violent…" He told her in a soft tone._

_Midori stopped punching the air and looked at Robert. While she tried to look as gentle as possible, her eyes wouldn't let that happen, so it ended up being a glare. "They're the ones who started the fight, so I'm going to be the one who finishes it!"_

" _That's not the point! You'll get in trouble again!" Robert warned._

" _Who gives a damn about what the old geezer says! Revenge without warning comes first!" The snake lady declared._

_Robert didn't say anything after that. Once she was fired up, there was no way to stop her sadly. Midori calmed down for a few minutes just to use her healing powers to heal Robert's wounds._

" _How can you heal wounds?" Robert questioned her. "I can't do that."_

" _I was born with them, and I'm quite proud of it." She bragged as the blood from Robert's knee disappeared. The arrogant smile fell though when she mumbled. "Why can't I heal my own wounds with these powers?"_

_Robert did not seem to hear her as she finished healing him. She gasped for air as she tried to recover from healing the child. Robert hid his eyes underneath his hair. He asked. "Why do my powers hurt people?"_

" _What do you mean?" She asked between breaths._

" _I use my powers to defend myself whenever I'm attacked…but…why do they always hurt people? Your powers can save people…"_

" _Where are you getting at?"_

" _If you healed more people, you would start to be accepted the more people you save than hurt, but for me, I'll always hurt people, and I'll never be able to help people with these two hands-"_

_"Don't say anymore!"_

_Midori stood up which surprised the young Celestial Being._

" _If you keep looking on the negative side, of course you'll never be accepted! You have to think positive if you want to survive!"_

" _Think positive?" he repeated._

" _Yes. Think positive. Trust me. It works." She said with a wink which more like she was locking on to her target._

_Robert smiled faintly. Suddenly a woman was running up to Midori with a desperate look on her face. Midori turned to her and tried to show her compassionate face, but ended up giving an angry glare._

" _What happened Mrs. Whitney?" She asked. Her question did not seem the least bit caring._

" _My daughter..." The frail women began, "is dying, and she needs help!"_

_The two gasped._

" _Why didn't you call a hospital?" Midori questioned in anger._

" _The doctor told us that there was no hope for her, but someone like you could probably save her. Oh please save her!" Mrs. Whitney begged. She even went as far as begging on her knees._

_Midori liked this kind of respect and decided to help not because Mrs. Whitney begged, but because she was a very kind person deep down. "Show me the way."_

_Mrs. Whitney was delighted that Midori agreed to help her. She led her to her house where her sick child was. Robert followed behind the snake Genome._

_Once they arrived, they rushed to the girl's room. The child was on the verge of falling asleep for eternity. Mrs. Whitney prayed that her child would stay alive. Midori leaned over to the girl and held her hands out. A white light appeared from her hands as the light transferred to the sick girl. The energy was white magic that saved the girl from death…barely. Her face was no longer pale after ten minutes of healing. When the girl was finally sleeping peacefully, Midori stopped her healing powers. Healing people from death zaps all the energy from one's body. In this case, Midori could not heal anyone else for that day. Mrs. Whitney cried tears of joy as she realized that her daughter was saved from death._

" _Thank you Midori!" She said in a grateful tone._

" _Don't…mention it…" Midori said weakly. She even lost her voice from using all of her powers._

" _You're not a monster like everyone says you are!" Mrs. Whitney continued. "You're an angel sent from Heaven!"_

_Midori frowned at that statement. She hated Heaven, but she hated Hell more than Heaven. The Celestial Beings hated her and her species and want them dead. The Hellions only want the Genomes as slaves. The humans did hate people who were different than them, but if you give them a chance...they can understand what the Genomes been through and be accepted as one of them._

" _I'll make sure that no one rejects you ever again!" Mrs. Whitney declared as she left her house to tell everyone about Midori's miracle._

_Midori wasn't all that happy that she was the only one that would be treated like a hero. What about Robert? Would he still be treated the same way as he always was treated. He probably will._

" _Robert," Midori began, "you and I are the same, but I don't understand why only one of us will be accepted into the human race."_

_Robert looked at the floor and frowned. "You can save people. That's why you can become one of them, but I hurt people…I'll never be accepted…"_

_Midori glared at the blond. She gave a hand gesture for Robert to come closer to her. Robert obeyed and when he was in range of the snake Genome's tail, she whacked him in the head with it._

" _Didn't anyone tell you, never say **NEVER**!" Midori questioned him as she continued to hit him on the head with her tail._

" _Ouch! Stop it!" Robert begged._

_Midori sighed as she stopped. "And if you don't start being submissive soon then people will take advantage of you. I truly think it's fair for you to use your powers to defend yourself…"_

_The last part was unnecessary but she wanted him to hear what she had to say. Robert seem to take it to heart._

* * *

_The next day was Midori's last day to live._

" _Okay, I'm going to school now! You kids better take care of Robert, or I'll give you a serious beat down!" Midori warned the kids._

" _Okay, Midori-chan!" The children said with a smile._

_Midori leaves to school hoping to get something out of it._

" _I can see why you like her so much." One of the kids told the blonde._

" _What?!"_

_"Getting a girl when you're not even in school yet!"_

" _I-I d-don't like her! A-And even if I d-did, s-she w-wouldn't feel the s-same way…"_

_"That's true." The kid said quickly dropping the subject._

" _She talks about her long lost brother more than you anyway." Another kid added._

_Robert frowned remembering her talking about her long lost brother at one time. The expression on her face was unreadable, but the blond seemed to know that something terrible happened to her brother. She would usually change the subject in the end anyway so the topic was long forgotten._

_The mayor of the town appeared after a few minutes asking if the kids could be okay._

" _You've got important work to finish right?" Robert questioned the mayor. "It's only shopping! We can handle it!"_

_The mayor smiled and complimented that Robert was a good boy before Robert and the orphans walked off to do shopping._

_Shopping was supposed to be easy, but not with Robert around. Because of him, every store was rejecting the orphans despite having money. The orphans felt sorry for Robert who hadn't done anything._

" _OH NO!" One of the orphans shouted. "I lost the money! I must've dropped it somewhere."_

" _WHAT?!"_

" _YOU IDIOT! WHAT'RE WE GONNA DO?!" The orphan with spiky hair (and obviously the leader) asked._

_Robert and his friends decided to backtrack to find the money, but they couldn't find it anywhere. The sun was setting when they gave up._

" _The money Midori gave us was suppose to last us three days." One of the orphans complained. "Three days without food!"_

" _And we only eat bread and soup anyway. I'm starving..." The kid who lost the money mumbled._

" _I wish I could stuff myself with meat just once." The leader complained._

" _We can try asking the shopkeepers to give us food on credit." A female orphan suggested._

" _Why would they trust us? They hate us…"_

 _What the orphan who lost the money_   _said was probably too much because Robert's face saddened as he got up and walked away. He asked. "Hey, we're friends, right?"_

" _Idiot! Of course we are!" The leader declared._

_Robert smiled as he told them that he would be waiting at the orphanage. The kids wondered though if Robert was human. The orphans continued on the road and saw a bakery with bread that was just baked. Hunger overcame friendship at this moment…_

* * *

_Robert was busy fixing the table to notice that the worst was about to happen. When he was done, the townspeople barged into the orphanage with guns, sickles, and anything that could be considered a weapon. Their faced were filled with hate and anger._

" _THERE YOU ARE! I knew something like this would happen soon or later!" The guy with the gun yelled. "You really are dangerous!"_

_Robert was confused, "What?"_

_Robert glanced behind the man to see the orphans all beaten and bruised._

" _They confessed that you threatened them and forced them to steal food!"_

_Robert was stunned by this information. "What? How could I do that? It's not true! Right, everybody?"_

_The orphans didn't respond. The guy with the gun asked if what the orphans said was true. The leader of the bunch was the one who confessed the lie that Robert threatened them._

_Robert was horrified that his friends betrayed him. He fled through the backdoor with the townsfolk following him. The words that they told him this evening before they parted was still ringing through his head. He eventually ran into the mayor that told him to hide in the shed that he opened up._

" _Sir! Everyone's acting weird! I didn't do anything!" Robert explained._

" _I know! I know! It's all right!" The mayor said as he closed the door behind Robert and locked it. Robert was confused again._

" _Huh? Why are you locking the door?" Robert asked._

" _Robert…I'm handing you over to them." The mayor said simply._

" _WHAT? WHY SIR? AREN'T I A GOOD BOY? AREN'T I? SIR!"_

" _I'm sorry. You are a good boy, but…Robert you know that people who commit crimes are imprisoned. But do you know why? Because people are scared of them. People imprison other people out of fear. Bad people…scary people…and you are the scariest of all!"_

_Robert let those words sink in as he began crying._

" _I called you a good boy because I wanted to believe that. But I couldn't because you're a monster! No one can possibly love you. Throwing you out is the only way to preserve everyone's safety!"_

" _But…why did you take me in at all?" Robert questioned as he kept banging on the door with his fist._

" _Money. Your foster parents made a very generous donation in exchange to accepting you. If I throw you out, I must return the money, but if you're arrested for a crime, it's a different story! I can keep everything!"_

_That was all it took for Robert to snap. The mayor was trying to get the townspeople to get to Robert and abuse him, but Robert beat them to it. He destroyed the shelter he was locked in. He used Kurogane to shatter the place. He was going insane as he planned to shoot the humans with his attack when someone stepped in front of him._

" _Robert, whatever you do, you can't hurt the humans!" The person pleaded._

" _Why not?! They all hate me!" Robert yelled. He wanted to kill the humans but Midori was in the way. Why did she have to show up now?_

" _Your friends don't hate you! You have to remember that they're the same age as you!" Midori explained._

_"Midori…"_

" _The adults are the ones that I'm pissed off at, but I'll protect you from them no matter what, so please don't shoot!"_

_Robert wanted to believe that she was the only person that could love him. He was about to put Kurogane down when the mayor yelled at her to move out of the way._

" _Why should I sir?" She asked in a disgusted tone. "I trusted you to take care of Robert and here you are trying to kick him out!"_

_"What I do isn't of your concern." He said in a low tone trying to stay on her good side._

" _It is my concern! You told me that you would take care of Robert! Why are you trying to kick him out?!"_

_"…He's a monster and he doesn't belong." The mayor answered simply._

_Midori was shocked. "No…"_

" _He was like you, but you were able to help us with your powers that could save lives. This child threatened our children and he's going to pay."_

_Midori didn't move. She stood her ground as she held her hands out. "You have to get past me in order to get to Robert…"_

" _Midori…"_

" _I'm not going to let you die…"_

_The mayor frowned. "That's too bad. You had a bright future too."_

_The townsfolk liked Midori and they didn't want her to get hurt. None of them stepped forward. The mayor knew that if she was the only one standing up to the blond then there will be no way of kicking him out. He did the unexpected. He took a gun from one of the townsfolk and shot her._

_Robert's world shattered when he saw the only person who really loved him fall to the ground unmoving lying in her own blood._

" _M-M…"_

_Midori was still able to move from the gun wound in the heart. She used all of her strength to turn her head in Robert's direction. She still had the confident grin on her face even before she died. "I guess I'll never be able to find my brother after all…Robert…if you find him…please take care…of…h…im…"_

_That was Midori's last request before she coughed blood and breathed her last. The townsfolk were stunned that the mayor would kill someone they all admired._

_Robert lost his insanity right there, and fired Kurogane at the townsfolk. Most of them were killed at contact of the Sacred Weapon. Robert laughed hysterically as he fired Kurogane everywhere._

_All of you die! Die! DIE! Robert thought to himself as he walked down the streets. The buildings were on fire as he fired Kurogane to make it worse._

_At that young age, Robert destroyed a third of the town and fled._

* * *

Ritsuka was tired of talking. He wasn't going to say anymore about Robert's past. Rinko heard the tale before so she showed almost no emotion. Ai couldn't even look Robert in the face. Kousuke felt a slight guilt. Sonson was depressed (for a change). Sano however was surprised but didn't show it. His sister was killed by the humans who she tried to get them to accept her.

 _Maybe…Robert was right about killing them…_ Sano thought to himself.

The quiet session ended when Robert began talking again. "Ritsuka, you're actually pretty talkative when it comes to butting into people's business."

Ritsuka glared at the blond.

"You know, I'm quite grateful to the mayor. He helped me realize that there's no justice in this world."

Any sympathy that Kousuke felt was gone when Robert criticized justice.

"It's just something humans make up to keep the scary things away. Humans are a bunch of pathetic cowards. I'LL FORCE THEM TO FACE THE ULTIMATE FEAR…THE ANNIHILATION OF THE WORLD!"

Kousuke sighed as he scratched his hair. "I don't know what's going on here. But one thing's for sure. I can't let you win the tournament."

"Hmm?"

"I kind of feel sorry for you. Even if you realize your dream, you won't be happy."

There was silence before Robert's smiled sinisterly at the green haired teen. "Ueki-kun…you gave me no choice. I'll erase you here and now! I accept your challenge. This is your last chance to quit." Robert warned.

"Let's do this Robert! I want to be the one to stop you!"

"Ha ha…it could be quite a bloodbath. Shall we change locations?" Robert asked. "Let's go to the main battle arena of Dogra Mansion."

Robert transported the group to the main battle arena which was the roof of the mansion. The blonde appeared on the other side of the field in a bubble.

"Only Ueki-kun can enter the main arena. You can attack me from anywhere." Robert taunted.

Without hesitation, Kousuke ran onto the battlefield. Sano intended to follow him but Ritsuka stopped him.

"There's a barrier around the arena, or did you not see it?" The cat boy questioned.

"Guhh! _I can't help Ueki!_ "

 _Robert…I won't let you erase this world! I'll stop you no matter what!_ Kousuke thought to himself. He fired Pick at Robert which he defended by summoning Hood. Hood was strong enough to punch Pick away.

"I was prepared to give you time to power up, but you're too dumb to wait." Robert taunted. "Listen up Ueki-kun. There are three reasons you can't win against me."

Robert started listing all the reason why Kousuke couldn't beat him. "Number one. You're a six star celestial, and I'm a ten. But if I used the higher weapons on you, this fight would be over, so I'll hold back. Number two. When you got your little power from your God Candidate, you didn't know that a celestial can combine his powers with his sacred weapons."

Robert demonstrated this theory by throwing his cup that was still full of tea at Ueki. Nothing spilled when it dropped to the ground.

"A teacup whose contents can't be spilled…such a cup is ideal isn't it? The power I was given is the power to change ideals into reality. I can't make things ideal in in every way. I just enhance the functions that objects already have, and I can't use it on living things. With this power, I can change a knife into an ideal knife that can cut anything…a paintbrush into an ideal brush that paints perfect pictures…and a soap bubble into a bubble that won't burst!"

"Then those soap bubbles were created by your powers…" Ai mumbled.

"I knew from the beginning that my power could be combined with my sacred weapons…so I chose a power that would make my sacred weapons invincible. Have a look! KUROGANE!"

Kousuke intended to block the attack with hood, but Kurogane swerved around the shield and hit him head on. The attack sent him flying into the air.

"My Kurogane is a cannon that never misses its target! My Hood is a shield that never fails to defend! Which reminds me. The third reason you can't win against me…"

Kousuke landed on his back…hard.

"You're just like the Robert 10. You never get any stronger. Your level's so low. As we get stronger, the powers we were given can advance to the next level."

"What?"

"Is he serious?" Sano asked the cat boy.

"I guess. _I didn't know that._ "

"Our God Candidates aren't allowed to tell us about this. When we first get our powers, they're just powers the candidates transfer from themselves. But as you master your power, it levels up! Once your power reaches level two the objects you create with your power become more powerful. In my case, it works like this."

Robert demonstrated again by summoning Mash underneath Kousuke. Kousuke tried to outrun it by using Rakia but the thing was right on his tail.

"Since this is the ideal Mash it'll follow wherever you go until it catches you, and then Mash turns red."

When Mash turned red, Kousuke fell to the ground due to gravity.

"This is my level two power. The ideal objects I create with my power acquire the super power to change the gravity of whatever they touch. When my ideal objects make things lighter, they turn blue, and when they make things heavier, they turn red. Since you're just level one, you can't possibly beat me."

Mash opened up from underneath and apparently swallowed the Celestial Being.

"UEKI!" Ai screamed.

Good thing Kousuke was persistent because he was able to climb out of the ground. He was still injured badly but nothing life threatening.

"Ha ha…I'm just playing. That was me on low power. I know you're still wrung out from your battle with Carpaccio. You know, maybe I won't finish you off just yet."

"…?"

"After all I want you to witness the moment the world vanishes when humans are exposed for the cowards they really are!"

Kousuke glared at the blond as he continued to rant about how there was no such thing as justice. Tenko was telling the green haired teen to run, but he refused to run away.

"Tenko, I know you told me about my past. But even though I was born a Celestial Being, I still think of myself as a human. I can't act like a coward in front of Robert! That's just what he thinks humans are like!" As he said this he slowly started to stand up. "I've got to prove him wrong! He's all screwed up! Humans aren't as bad as he thinks!"

Everyone watched as Kousuke stood up.

"Robert…maybe you're right about humans. I'm a coward too. When I lost a CD I borrowed from Mori, I made up excused because I was scared of her."

"YOU LOST IT?!" Ai questioned him in rage. "YOU JERK!"

"Ki…(That outburst is why he probably made up an excuse.)"

"But the justice I'm talking about is different." Kousuke continued. "Koba sen sacrificed his life to save me. So did Inumaru. But they're not the only ones. When I was almost killed by you before…Mori risked her life for me, even though she had no powers."

"!"

"When I was in the healing beast…Rinko protected me with her life!"

"!"

"And when I almost lost the first battle…Sano gave up everything to shield me!"

"!!!"

"Humans are cowardly, but we can become strong! When we try to protect our loved ones…even powerless humans can act like Koba sen! To overcome the weakness inside ourselves…that's my idea of justice!"

Kousuke's friends (and Ritsuka) were shocked at Kousuke's declaration of justice. Robert just smirked evilly and said. "I tried to be patient and hear you out, but you've been completely brainwashed by the humans! Time to expose you to the ultimate fear! What can you possibly do with your measly power?"

Robert fired Kurogane at Kousuke. Ai and Rinko told the green haired teen to look out. Kousuke told himself that he had to get stronger…stronger until he was able to summon multiple sacred weapons at once surprising everyone.

"How can this be? It isn't possible to bring out more than one sacred weapon at once!"

Robert noticed that Pick was the only attack that was going to hit him directly so he tried to block with hood. The attack was able to get through and he was injured but not much.

"Huh? That's…a lot of sacred weapons. How'd I do that?" Kousuke asked himself. He was too slow to realize how he did that."

"Ueki-kun, you're amazing!" Rinko complimented.

"When did he master that?" Ritsuka questioned.

Robert grinned at the sight in front of him. "Normally, it's impossible to bring out multiple sacred weapons. So this must be your level two power. The power to make trees become a power to make forests…I guess. Well, this is quite a surprise isn't it? But it's not enough to defeat me! Watch. Lets say I crush all your sacred weapons using just Kurogane."

Robert shot Kurogane at Kousuke. The green haired teen tried to use multiple sacred weapons to block the attack, but it destroyed Hood to get to him directly. He took another big hit as Robert shot multiple Kuroganes. Kousuke blocked again, but they were all destroyed instantly as he took another hit.

"You may have reached level two but that alone won't close the gap between us. My power is perfect. As long as I have the power to change ideals into reality I am invincible!" the blonde breached.

"He's too strong…" Ritsuka murmured. "We should have stopped him before he got into this mess."

"Here's my chance. Shall I prove once and for all that humans will always be weak and cowardly? If you keep fighting to the death, I'll let your friends go, but if you surrender I'll spare you and kill the others."

"WHAT?!"

"Now your life is balanced against theirs. What will you do?"

"You bastard!" Sano cursed.

"What kind of question is that?" Kousuke asked as he stood up again. "My friends are way more important than mine! Who'd surrender, idiot?"

Robert grinned sinisterly as he fired multiple shots of Kurogane again. Kousuke shielded himself with multiple sacred weapons. The strategy didn't' seem to work until Kousuke delayed the Mash attack so that it would be in front of the blonde. Robert barely managed to get out of that one, but he still did as he sliced Mash in half with Ranma. That was enough time for Kousuke to get behind him and used Robert as a shield against the Kurogane that was after him. The blonde outsmarted him though by using his blue bubble to make Kurogane light. He then punched Kousuke away and got out Ranma.

"You get points for that little trick. But in the end you can't win against me!""

Just as Robert was going to make the finishing blow, a chunk of the ceiling was about to fall on top of him. The battle could have been won but Kousuke being himself rescued him without realizing it. Everyone was shocked especially Robert.

"Why did you save me? You could have died, too…"

"Huh? Oh, yeah...you're right. I guess I wasn't thinking."

When he said that though, he coughed up blood.

"Ueki, are you okay?" Sano questioned the teen.

"It's okay…I'll live…"

Robert was silent for a minute before he decided to help Kousuke. He used the blue bubble to life the chunk of ceiling off of the teen.

"I don't want you to think I owe you." Robert said to cover the fact that he wanted to help the teen.

He let the chunk of ceiling fall on him. "Did you think that if you saved me, I'd repent? Think again. My hatred will die with me!"

Even though he said that he stopped the chunk of ceiling from falling on him with the blue bubble. "Can you see now that I owe you nothing? I can protect myself with my power over gravity! Pointless heroism, Ueki-kun!"

"Owe? Repent?" Kousuke asked. He was confused.

"Ueki-kun…how dare you treat me like a fool? Feel the full power of my hatred!"

Robert attacked Kousuke again with Pick. Kousuke intended to dodge but the pain from the ceiling kicked him resulting in him dodging at the last minute and using Pick only for Robert's Pick to split Kousuke's Pick in half. Kousuke then tried using Mash making Robert used his bigger Mash destroying it. Kousuke's last attempt was using Kurogane which Robert countered with his all mighty Kurogane that not only broke Kousuke's Kurogane, but manage to land a hit on Kousuke. He was too injured to use another Sacred Weapon.

"You jerk! Ueki injured himself saving you!" Ai spat.

Kousuke was hit again by another Kurogane, but this one hit the barrier. Kousuke was then hit by a horde of Kurogane. Robert laughed hysterically.

"Dammit! If only I could break this barrier…" Sano mumbled.

"Ki! (You are not using me to break something!)"

Kousuke was seemly defeated now as he could no longer move a finger. At this time pieces of the ceiling was falling on top of the others. They had to flee in order to avoid them but the barrier was broken because of this.

"You see, Ueki-kun? This is the power of my hatred…ha-ha-ha! DIE!"

When all seem lost Sano threw a spear like object inside the Kurogane cannon resulting in the weapon blowing up causing a smokescreen. When the smoke cleared, Sano and Rinko were standing in front of Kousuke ready to defend him.

"How did you two…"

"The barrier was destroyed by the falling debris!" Sano explained as he turned his head slightly to Ueki. "We'll protect you with our lives, Ueki!"

Robert looked at the damage and then back at his opponents. "I see…the damage to the ceiling. Of course. I got a little carried away. But this fight is between Ueki-kun and me. Stay out of it, please."

"Beating someone who hurt himself saving you? You call that a fight? Don't make me laugh! Ueki risked his life to save my friend. So he's an important friend to me now! I don't want to lose anymore important friends! Sorry, but I'll do anything to protect him!" Sano declared.

"I'm the same. Ueki-kun taught me the true meaning of being companions, of being friends. I'll protect Ueki-kun at the cost of my life." Rinko added.

Ai and Ritsuka were the only ones sitting out of the fight. Ritsuka was staying out because he simply didn't want to fight and he was still injured. (Plus, he doesn't consider Kousuke as a friend yet). Ai was on the sidelines because she didn't know what her powers were.

"Let me see…the power to make myself beautiful!" She shouted.

Nothing happened. Ritsuka looked at her and sighed. "You're not beautiful…"

Robert gave them an evil look. "Protect him with your life? Very interesting! What exactly do you plan to do?"

Sano was already thinking of a plan to defeat Robert. After he finished whispering it to Rinko, he took off in one direction and she in the other. Robert fired Kurogane at both of them thinking that they would be killed instantly, but what surprised him was that they both changed directions in the direction the other was. They crashed into each other as both Kuroganes hit each other cancelling each other out.

"I see! Those cannonballs chase their target, so they made them crash into each other." Ritsuka stated.

"This is the first time Sano and Rinko-chan have fought together, but they make a good team!"

Or so she thought…

"Did you have to slam right into me?!" Rinko questioned the Genome as she shook him again and again.

"I didn't think ahead…" He mumbled.

"USE YOUR HEAD!"

"Hey, no big deal!"

"Says you!"

"Oooooo (I'm getting dizzy…)"

Ai and Ritsuka sweatdropped.

"On second though…maybe not…" Ai mumbled, "Rinko-chan, you're killing him…"

Robert didn't hesitate to attack them when they still arguing. He used his powers to lift them up high in the air and then dropped them. Rinko countered by trying to shoot the blond with her bead cannon. Robert blocked with his Hood only for Sano's boomerang to come at him.

"The bead cannon was a decoy! I tricked you into using Hood so you couldn't see Sano-kun's boomerang blade!"

Robert attempted to make the boomerang lighter. At that time, Sano turned it back into a towel. Out came many beads that blew up.

"That's Rinko and my combo play! And now...spring!"

Sano turns his towel into steel and bounces back to the ground.

"Over here! I'll catch you Rinko!"

Sano catches her, but they ended up falling on his back.

"HEAVY!" Sano cried in pain.

Infuriated by Sano's comment, Rinko starts strangling Sano. "How rude! I'm not that heavy! Catch me the normal way!"

"Impossible! You're way too heavy for that!"

"I am not! You need more muscle!"

"Ooooo... (She's right)."

"It hurts…" Sano complained.

"So you're telling me I'm heavy?" Rinko asked in an angry tone.

"I'm not sure if they're great or useless…" Ai said with a sigh.

"Whose supposed to be the main pairing again?" Ritsuka asked as he turned to face the 4th wall to address the readers.

Robert was still alive as he glared at the combo. "You think you have time to chat?" The smoke cleared and Robert was ready for an attack. "Didn't you notice? That Kurogane's power was only half the power I used on Ueki-kun?"

"WHAT?!"

"Oh no!"

"I think I've had enough fun. Here's Kurogane at 100 percent."

Robert fired Kurogane again and Sano and Rinko planned to use the same strategy, but this attack was much faster than the previous. There was no time to react.

_I can't believe that Ueki survived this long against this guy._

They were both hit by Kurogane. The attack was so powerful that it seemed to knock them both out. Sonson felt some of the damage that Sano received.

"SANO!" Ritsuka called out.

"RINKO-CHAN!" Ai yelled.

"Well then…I'm done with Ueki-kun and the two traitors…next up…" Robert turned his head in the direction of the bluenette and cat boy. "Is the last traitor and you!"

Robert began walking closer to her. Ai was too scared to do anything, but Ritsuka stepped in front of her. Robert was going too far with hurting Sano. He was surprised when he saw him and Rinko stand up again.

"Hold it, idiot!"

Robert was shocked that they stood up again. "No…why are you standing? Aren't you afraid to die?" He asked.

"Are you dense? Of course we are! But…losing our friends is a thousand times scarier!" Sano told him.

"We told you already…we'll die to protect…our friends.."

Robert was stunned at how persistent they were. The shock turned into anger when he realized that he was seeing Midori in Sano again. _Dammit! I'm growing soft again over someone that's already dead! H_ e thought to himself. " _I have to kill him before I stop my attack again._ FINE! So you really want to die? Pick!"

Robert fired Pick at Sano. The Genome realized that he didn't have enough strength to dodge it.

_Dammit! Why did I have to run out of energy when they need to be protected?! I'm sorry Rinko…Mori…Ritsuka…Sonson…Ueki…_

Sano didn't have to die because Kousuke stepped in and saved him by taking the hit that could have potentially killed him.

"Ueki!"

"Thanks, Sano. Leave the rest to me." Kousuke told him.

"No…you shouldn't be above to move a muscle!" Robert said in disbelief.

"You can move if you need to protect your friends." Kousuke responded.

"You can move if you need to protect your friend? What kind of crap is that?"

"But I still could move…"

"Ueki! Your body can't move anymore!" Rinko warned him.

"Kousuke turned to them and smiled. "Thanks, Sano…Rinko…you save me!"

"Ki! (Don't say that with blood on your face)!"

Kousuke didn't seem to hear the little monkey and turned his attention back at Robert and glared. "Robert! How dare you try to kill my friends? I won't fail them like I failed Koba sen! I'll protect everyone!"

Kousuke pulled out Pick from his stomach. Blood came gushing out, but that didn't stop him. Robert fired another Pick as Kousuke attempted to fight back with Pick but it was cut in half easily as Pick pierced his shoulder. He fell to the ground and the blonde thought he was dead and proceeded to attack Sano again when Kousuke stood up again.

"I won't let you…lay a finger on my friends!" He announced in a serious tone.

 _It can't be! Is he immortal? H_ e asked himself in a worried tone.

Ai wanted to save Kousuke so she shouted out another power. "Power to lower my body fat!"

Ritsuka gave Ai a look and sighed. "You're not funny, and that's not helping the situation whatsoever."

Robert was starting to panic and fired Kurogane at the green haired teen who couldn't even dodge the attack. No matter what he did though, Kousuke was always standing up. He was going to bleed to death at this rate.

"Right now…I have to protect my friends." Kousuke said simply.

Everyone was shocked that he was still alive and fighting. Even though Kousuke was the one struggling, it was Robert that was scared. Robert tried to get rid of his fear as he fired Pick again. Kousuke was stabbed in the other shoulder and it seemed that he couldn't stand again.

"Oh, I see! I was wondering why you kept brining out trees! You don't have the power to use Sacred Weapons!" Robert declared.

"What? You've got to be kidding!"

Robert thought that he won when he fired one last Pick at Kousuke. The green haired teen didn't give up as he coiled Pick around with the tree he summoned. Pick got to him first as he was stabbed in the stomach again, but when that happened Kousuke's pick hit Robert in the face. Both were knocked out.

 _I see…Kousuke couldn't crush Robert's Pick with his Pick alone! He kept brining out trees to practice coiling his tree around Robert's Sacred Weapon!_ Ritsuka thought to himself.

Ai kept calling out to Kousuke over and over again to make sure he wasn't dead.

"What's up, Mori? Let me rest a little…" Kousuke mumbled. "I feel like death warmed over…"

"UEKI WON!" Ai declared as she rushed over to him. Sano followed shortly to heal his wounds, but he wished that Kousuke wasn't staring at him as he healed him.

Ritsuka was on the sidelines. He didn't want to run up to them because he felt like he wasn't a part of the group, and he felt some guilt of not helping out Sano and Rinko fight Robert.

While Ai and Rinko cheered for Kousuke's victory, Kousuke was paying attention to Sano healing him.

"This is…"

Sano wouldn't let him finish his sentence. "You're an idiot! You lost so much blood that I might not be able to replace it."

"Sorry…"

"Don't say anymore you almost dead man."

The victory was short lived as Robert was still alive and planned to kill them all.

"Are you done celebrating something?" Robert stood up surprising everybody. "Ueki-kun, no one has ever lasted this long against me. As a reward, I'll finish all of you with my best weapon! Ten Star Sacred Weapon Archenemy."

Just when he was about to unleash his ultimate weapon, someone stopped him. The person turned out to be Koba sen.

"Hey. Long time no see, guys!" He greeted with his usual aloofness.

Both Kousuke and Ai were shocked that their teacher was right in front of them.

"Hey, chill out. You look like you saw a ghost. Well I guess I sort of am…"

"Koba…sen…"

Robert was stunned that the person that tried to send him to Hell was back. "What? You were imprisoned in the underworld! Why are you here?"

Koba san cocked his head toward the blond. "As a representative of Kami-sama, I declare this tournament temporarily suspended!"

"WHAT?!"

"The first round of the tournament is over! There will now be a break before round two!" Koba sen announced before following it up with. "I'm so cool."

"Hang on…what round two?" Ai questioned her teacher.

"We've kept this from you, but the tournament has two rounds! Only thirty (two) combatants can go to the second round. Actually, we were already down to 30 when Kabara bit it. But it took a while to get down to Hell to stop these fights. Now that even Carpaccio's out, we've got just 29 contestants left."

"And why should we care about that asshole?" Ritsuka asked sarcastically.

Robert seemed like he was going to attack either way, but Koba sen proved that he was telling the truth by activating the watch. A man appeared in the light.

"Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Nice to meet you, combatants! I'm the sponsor of this battle tournament! Please call me Kami-sama!"

Everyone was shocked.

"Liar." Kousuke told him.

"HEY! DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER!" Kami-sama shouted.

"There are many reasons why he would call you a liar…" Ritsuka murmured.

Robert was terrified seeing Kami-sama's face.

"Ah. It seems you know my face. Robert, the device Kobayashi is wearing nullifies any power including Sacred Weapons _except the power of the Genomes_. I call it Mr. Stopper! Time to give up!" Kami-sama explained.

Robert was forced to give up.

"Boy who could've guess that two Celestials would join the tournament? Quite a development."

Robert flinched at this comment.

"Don't worry! There's no rule against Celestial's participating! After all, no one thought that it'd ever happen. It's just a shame I can't punish the folks who dropped you into the human world. The statue of limitations of that crime has run out."

Ai then suddenly had an idea. "Hold on a sec! Maybe Koba sen came here because he was pardoned by Kami."

Kami-sama had a serious look on his face. "Nope. Can't happen. This is a temporarily release. Normally the proclamation of the second round is my job but our treaties bar me from entering Hell, so I released Kobayashi, who was already in Hell and gave him Mr. Stopper so he could represent me."

Kousuke frowned. "This means saying good-bye to Koba sen again…"

"You got that right."

"How can I?…In that case…I'll save Koba sen with my power! I'll go to the prison and break him and Inumaru out!"

"Ueki…"

"I don't think so. Once Celestial are imprisoned in Hell, they can't survive elsewhere. Additionally because of those guys running amok, it will be impossible to save them. Only the almighty God can cure them of that." Kami-sama explained.

"Then cure them!" Kousuke ordered.

"Can't do it. No way, no how. I am the law and order of the Celestial World. How can I break the rules I made ? Besides I can't go there!"

Kousuke then had a suggestion. "I got it! We just need to make Koba sen or Inumaru God! Whichever one becomes God can change the rules, cure himself and save the other one!"

Everyone stared at Kousuke dumbfounded.

"Hey, Kami dude! Make Koba san and Inumaru into God Candidates again!"

Kami-sama couldn't help but laugh. "You crazy kid! All right! I'll make an exception! Inumaru is once again Sano's God Candidate! But he's staying in Hell!"

"You'll do that? Really?" Sano asked.

Kami-sama laughed. "Frankly, I was having trouble filling the vacancies for God Candidates! Recruiting new guys would make me look bad. People would think I screwed up the first time!"

Ai sweatdropped. "That's the real reason isn't it?"

 _With him in charge, it's a miracle that Earth's in one piece._ Sonson thought to herself.

Kami-sama stopped laughing. "But there are two major problems now! The first one is you!" Kami-sama said as he faced Ai.

"Huh? Me?"

"You were unexpectedly given a power. But hey, it turns out we need an extra combatant for the second round anyway. If you want, you may join the tournament! No wait! If you join the tournament, I'll make Kobayashi your God Candidate! Kobayashi can't be Ueki's God Candidate again, but he can be yours."

Kousuke, Ai, and Kobayashi were surprised by Kami-sama's generous offer.

"We've got some time before the second round. Why not think it over?"

"Hey! Are you sure about this?" Koba sen asked.

"Of course. Your motives are pure. You have to be an idiot to throw yourself into Hell as some kind of ploy to become God. After all, if you fail to become God, you'll be executed!"

"So if you don't win…Koba sen will die?" Kousuke asked himself out loud.

"The other major problem is that all the Genomes were registered to battle." Kami-sama said in a serious tone.

Sano turned away from him. It wasn't like he was forced, but… _Others like me?_

"That shouldn't be a problem though…OH, TIME'S UP! SEE YOU IN HEAVEN!"

The watch turned off.

"Okay! Time to teleport you back to the human world! Dogra Mansion will be destroyed by Hell in five minutes." Koba sen said.

"What?" Robert asked.

"You know it's against the rules to bring humans down here. Do you really think Hell wouldn't find out?" Koba sen turned his attention to Kousuke. "Ueki, it looks like you've toughened up a bit. That's a relief."

"He didn't just get stronger! He's a super strong madman now!" Ai stated. "His power's up to level two, and he can use more than one Sacred Weapon at a time…"

"No. That's not level two yet!" Koba sen, "Just on the way!"

Kousuke refused to leave Koba sen again. His teacher sighed as he walked over to his student.

"Yeah, yeah. You're pretty dim, aren't you? I told you to quit this silly battle, but here you are…" Koba sen patted him on the head. "Well done Ueki. I'm proud of you."

He then walked away and told his student good-bye. Kousuke started to cry knowing that he might not see his teacher again.

"Ueki…" Robert began. "Let me tell you one thing. After all this, I still don't believe in human justice. But I'll give you this much. You are a man worth fighting with all my power. The only reason our fight was so close was that I didn't use my highest Sacred Weapons. Next time around, we'll go out."

That was all he said before all but Sano and Robert were teleported. Sano faced Robert and told him. "I can understand why you hate the humans so much…"

Robert was shocked at what he said after all the preaching about his friends. They were both teleported away to the human world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: TBC with 8273 words! Notes!
> 
> 1\. Robert originally attacked Rinko. I made Robert attack Sano so Midori's role would be much bigger.
> 
> 2\. It was originally 25 candidates that could participate, but adding Ritsuka, Kurumi, and all the OC characters, I increased it to 30 so there will be a team of 6 instead of 5.


	8. Hanon Appears

It was the day after Team Ueki rescued Robert. Nothing bad had happened from yesterday to today. Everything was normal. Ai decided to go visit Sano and Rinko at the hospital since they were hospitalized as soon as they got back. When she got there, Sano was sitting in the chair next to Rinko, who was in the hospital bed. Tenko (who was dressed in a cute outfit which wasn't cool toward the Celestial Beast) was on the table to the left of Rinko. Sonson was on top of Sano. Kousuke and Ritsuka were nowhere to be found.

"Sano! Rinko-chan! How are you guys doing?" The bluenette asked.

Rinko greeted Ai with the usual grin that girls always give off.

"They just said that Rinko needed a month in the hospital." Sano told her.

"Weren't you injured just as badly as Rinko-chan?" Ai asked changing the subject.

Sano refused to say anything about how fast he healed, so he decided to talk about Ritsuka, "Ritsuka-kun bailed before the doctor's could get a good look at him. I guess he was scared at what they might think about his cat ears."

Ai frowned. _That's why he won't say anything._

Yesterday, when Sano and Rinko were fighting Robert, she caught a glimpse of Sano's monkey tail. Ritsuka mentioned in Robert's past that the Genome's long lost older sister had a snake tail. She came to the conclusion that they were related to some sort, but not much. After all, wouldn't you have the same animal gene at least?

"I see! What about Ueki?" she asked.

Tenko lost all doll cuteness as he spoke. "He must've recovered already, thanks to the Healing Beast…"

Rinko slapped her hand on the Celestial Being's mouth and shushed him. "We don't want the nurses to hear you!"

Ai couldn't help but giggle at the clothes Tenko was wearing. "What's Tenko doing here?"

"When Ueki-kun came to see us, he left Tenko-chan here for us?" Rinko explained as she held Tenko close.

"I knew this was going to happen…" Tenko mumbled.

Kousuke came into the hospital room wearing a goofy getup on his head. The thing on his head scared Sonson as she went into hiding in her owner's kimono.

"What the hell Ueki?!" Sano yelled as he felt Sonson shivering nonstop in his kimono.

"I got more talents for defeating the Robert 10." Kousuke began ignoring Sano. "So I tried one of my new talents…the talent to apply special effects makeup! I thought it'd cheer everybody up a bit."

Ai forced him to take it off since it looked gross only to realize that Kousuke caught a cold. Kousuke made an excuse that because there weren't any battles, he let his guard down by catching it.

"Ueki," Rinko began, "Sano and I were talking and…"

"We want to save Kobayashi and Wanko too!" Sano finished as Sonson climbed out of the kimono.

Kousuke smiled at his friends as he thanked Rinko. Truth be told though, he was talking to the wrong person. Rinko had to correct him that that wasn't her. Sano just sighed.

Tenko stared in Sano's direction. He was still trying to figure out how could Sano heal just as fast as Kousuke without the Healing Beast. It became apparent that Sano was a Genome ever since Kami-sama stated it. The monkey tail and the ability to communicate with monkeys is proof. _If he really is a Genome, then he is in danger of getting attacked by the Celestial Beings in Heaven._ Tenko thought to himself.  _I should tell Kousuke this when he's actually listening to me._

* * *

Sano left the hospital shortly after Kousuke and Ai left. He was going to search for Ritsuka and thank him for helping them out in Dogra Mansion. He was distracted by many things while searching for him. One was a fox with two tails that walked right past him. He was certain that he saw that fox somewhere before but he couldn't remember where. The next thing that distracted him was his stomach. He hadn't eaten anything yesterday or today. Sano sighed. Even though Dogra Mansion was a scary place for him, at least it provided him food and shelter. Now he was back on the streets as a street rat until the second round of the tournament started. He prayed that he wouldn't die from starvation by then.

He passed by a bakery, but didn't even bother stealing. Sonson knew that it had something to do with Kousuke. The monkey kept telling her owner that his health was important but he ignored her.

The last thing that distracted him was the bookstore. No, he wasn't looking at the math books that were in the window. He noticed that the fourth volume of Chobits came out. He went into the bookstore and went in the manga section to read the fourth volume of Chobits. He already finished volume three of the series and he just had to know what was going to happen next.

Sano was able to blaze though half the book when someone tapped on his shoulder. Sano didn't bother turning around because he already knew who the person was.

"Coming here to steal again?" The person asked.

Sano sighed. "Is it a crime just to read a manga?"

The person the Genome was talking to was the assistant manager of the store. He was there most of the time. Whenever the manager was here, he would allow Sano to stay in the bookstore for as long as he wanted and would give anything that could help Sano out in school for free. That wasn't going to happen today because this guy was grumpy and hated thieves.

"You may be able to fool the manager with that innocent question, but you're not going to fool me!" The man declared as he snatched the book from him. "Aren't you too young to read this book?"

Sano flinched. He was able to get away with it most of the time by saying he was sixteen, but he wasn't and the assistant manager knew this. "Y-Yes…"

"Kids these days can't even look at the rating of the book." The assistant manager said with a groan.

"…"

"I'll tell you what. I'll let your presence in here slide if you pay me 1000 yen."

Sano was shocked at the offer. "1000?"

"That's right. Fork over the money you have."

Sano took a step back. The assistant manager knew that the Genome had no money whatsoever. This deal was out of the question. Sano cursed himself for not asking Rinko for money, but that would seem wrong to borrow money from a girl.

"Well?"

"I don't have the money, and I don't intend to steal anything here." Sano told him.

Sonson glared at the man who glared back.

"Well that's a shame because I see you were planning to steal this one!" The man declared as he yanked the 3rd volume of Chobits out of his kimono.

Sano glared at him. "Give it back! My friend gave it to me!"

The assistant manager's eyebrow cocked up. "Oh? You have a friend? Who would be so generous to give you a manga like this?"

Sano didn't dare say Ritsuka's name.

"I guess I'll double the price to 2000 yen since your friend didn't buy this manga yet either."

"You-"

"What's it going to be?"

* * *

Kousuke was pissed off and it was all this guy named Hanon's fault! This guy comes out of nowhere and causes trouble to the people around him and claiming to be the new Robert Hayden. If it weren't for Ai, then he would have beaten him to a pulp. He was forced to let him escape. Because of him, Robert wouldn't be able to go back to the old self until he was saved by the guy with the pink hair.

Kousuke didn't bother walking Ai home since she was nearby her house anyway. He decided to tour the streets. He noticed a lot of people staring at a store in particular. Kousuke decided to see what was going on. He was shocked as he watched the scene unfold.

"GET OUT YOU FUCKING STREET RAT!" A man yelled as he threw someone out.

Kousuke noticed that the person was Sano and his monkey. The person who threw them out was the assistant manager of the bookstore. People who were nearby were taking a few steps backward which the green haired teen noticed.

"Don't come back if you can't even pay 2000 yen for two books you were planning to steal!" the assistant manager shouted as he threw a magazine at the Genome. Kousuke was enraged at his action. He was hoping that Sano would take action, but soon realized that he wouldn't. Sonson did though.

"KI! UKI!" (YOU SON OF A BITCH! GIVE BACK SEICHIRO'S MANGA!)"

The assistant manager was not amused at the monkey jumping up and down. "SHUT YOU ANNOYING ANIMAL!" He threw a magazine at Sonson…hard! The monkey could feel the pain unlike Sano. Sonson stopped jumping. People were whispering to each other in the crowd that they attracted. "Shit…I don't need this much attention."

Sano picked up Sonson and held her close. He glared at the man. "Give back the manga that you took from me. One of them belonged to me from the beginning!"

The man smirked evilly as he held out the volume he took from the Genome. "Oh this? You won't be getting this back anytime soon."

What he did next was what made Kousuke snap. The assistant manager took the manga and tore it shocking everyone especially Sano.

"No money means you lose this." He told Sano sinisterly. "Better find a way to pay me back."

The pages flew off in the wind. Whatever was left was stepped on by him. People were whispering in the crowd how cruel he was being to them. Kousuke thought that he saw Sano crying of all people. He couldn't let this guy get away with what he just did. Even if he lost a talent Kousuke did what he did. He attacked the assistant manager with his powers. He didn't see it coming as he was hit by the tree directly and was sent flying into the store. Even though it was obvious that Kousuke attacked the man, the people around him thought it was an alien of some sort.

Kousuke ran up to Sano and asked if he was okay. Sano didn't want to look at him. He just stood up and ran away in the direction away from people with Sonson in his hands. Kousuke was shocked at his reaction but decided to follow him.

* * *

Sano was shocked that Kousuke was there when he was getting beaten up by the assistant manager. Not only was it was humiliating to him, but for him to help him out and lose one of his Zai was too much.

"Ki! (Seichiro, slow down!)"

Sano stopped running to realize that he made his monkey dizzy. "S-Sorry Sonson…I just…"

"Oooooo. (Don't say anymore.)"

Sano sighed as he placed Sonson near a tree since he ran out of the streets. He noticed that it was really dark. He would have to find a place to stay soon.

"I didn't know you could run that fast, Sano."

Sano fell over when he heard the sudden voice. He panicked slightly before he realized that it was only Kousuke. He quickly stood up and glared at the teen, "What do you want Ueki?"

"To give you back this."

Kousuke handed Sano volume three of Chobits to him. Sano was stunned, "I thought…"

"That guy used a book from the store. Not your own book." Kousuke explained.

"That's a relief."

There was silence between the two.

"Sano," Kousuke began, "why was he treating you like that?"

"That guy never liked me from the beginning, and he just happened to snap today." Sano answered quickly.

"Tell the truth Sano."

Sano was confused. "What do you mean? That was the truth."

"He called you a street rat! What did he mean by that?"

Sano avoided eye contact with the Celestial Being. "It's none of your business!"

Sano was about to turn around to pick up Sonson and leave the area, but the green haired teen was too stubborn to give up. He grabbed the teen's arm preventing him from walking away from him.

"Sano!"

"Leave me alone, Ueki!" Sano snapped.

Kousuke noticed that his tone was rather dangerous than usual. "Not until you tell me what's wrong."

"I won't."

"…Then at least tell me where your parents live so I can at least walk you-"

"Forget it Ueki! There's no one home anyway!"

Kousuke was shocked at his sudden outburst. "You live by yourself?"

Sano cursed at himself for letting Kousuke get to him. He tried to pry himself away from the Celestial Being in response. Kousuke wasn't going to let him go.

"Stop being stubborn!" Kousuke told him getting rather angry at the Genome.

"Stop being so nosy!"

"I'm worried about you Sano!"

"You worry about everyone! Why would it matter if you worry about me!"

"SANO!"

Kousuke couldn't take it anymore as he pulled the Genome closer to him. Sano was rather shocked at his action. He soon panicked realizing the situation he was in. He started to shiver.

"L-Let…me…go…Ueki…"

Kousuke notice the panic in his tone. Something really bad must have had happened to him. He soon realized that Sano's forehead was hotter than usual. It became apparent that Sano had a fever.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a fever, dope?" Kousuke asked him.

Sano didn't get a chance to respond as he fainted in the Celestial Being's arms. Sonson noticed and ran up to her owner despite her injury and hid inside his kimono.

Kousuke's cheeks started to turn bright pink. This was the first time holding someone like this, and it felt…kind of nice. Kousuke shook those thoughts out of his head as he threw Sano on his back and walked back to his place.

* * *

It didn't take that long to bring Sano to his place since he was much lighter than expected. His sister was home and when she saw the condition of her brother's friend, she instantly got the bed ready upstairs. Kousuke thanked his sister as he laid Sano on his bed. In order to place a cold towel on Sano's head, he had to remove the headband that Sano was always wearing. He was surprised at how cute Sano was without it.

 _Don't think that way!_ Kousuke told himself.  _This is Sano I'm talking about!_

Sonson crawled out of Sano's kimono and found a place to sleep. When Kousuke's sister saw the monkey she commented how cute the monkey was before going into the kitchen and coming back with a banana for Sonson to eat which she gladly accepted.

"Where does your friend get such a cute monkey?" She asked Kousuke hoping he knew the answer.

Kousuke shrugged his shoulders. Knowing that her brother wasn't really paying attention to her, she left the room. Sonson decided to follow her for more bananas.

With the two gone, Kousuke watched Sano sleep. He smiled as he realized how adorable he was when asleep.

 _Dammit! I'm having these thoughts again!_ Kousuke thought to himself, _Got to stop myself from thinking like this! Come to think of it, I never had these thoughts before...even when I was with Mori._

Kousuke snapped out of his thoughts as he saw the Genome slowly open his eyes. He smiled. "You're finally awake."

"Where am I?"

"You're at my place. You were burning up and I didn't know where you lived so…"

Sano eyes instantly snapped open as he sat up. "What! I can't stay here!"

Kousuke noticed the worried look in the Genome's eyes. Something was up. "You have to stay in bed. You're sick."

"Thanks Ueki, but I can't stay here for long because-"

Kousuke cut him off as he forced him to lay back down. "Why are you so scared? No one's going to get you while I'm around if that's what you were thinking."

Sano's eyes widen at what Kousuke said because what he said was correct. He smiled faintly. "Thank you Ueki…"

"Your welcome."

Sano fell back to sleep in an instant. He must have had not slept well for a while.

"I'll get you to tell me about yourself…" Kousuke thought to himself. His eyes were feeling heavy. Eventually he fell asleep on top of Sano.

Kousuke's sister walked in on them. She smiled, "It's great that he has someone he cares about more than just a friend."

* * *

When Kousuke woke up the next morning, he realized that Sano and Sonson were gone. That instantly woke him up as he went downstairs into the kitchen to ask where Sano was.

"Your friend left an hour ago." She told him. "He said he had something very urgent to do, and he wanted me to tell you that he was grateful for taking care of him."

Kousuke frowned. Before he could even ask him about himself, he was already up and out of the house. The Celestial Being decided that he would go look for him…after he finished eating of course.

* * *

Sano went back to the bookstore. The last place Kousuke would expect to see him again. He was very grateful for his friend taking care of him for the night, but he can't expect to get too close to him. Not when the Hellions were on his tail. He was able to hide at Dogra Mansion for a while, but that was in the past and now he had to go back to his original life. If he asked his friends to help him, they would lose their Zai trying to protect him. It was already bad enough that Kousuke was the most willing one of all his friends to help him.

"He only has eight Zai left." Sano told himself. "If he helps me when those Hellions attack…he'll disappear."

"Ki…(Seichiro…)"

Sano glanced at his monkey. He sighed. It was obvious that the monkey took a huge liking to Kousuke's sister.

"Sonson, I told you we can't be close to anybody…or they'll die because of us…" Sano told his pet monkey.

"Uki… (I know but…)"

The two made it back to the bookstore. The store wasn't close down because of the tree though. It was still open even though there were people trying to move the tree out of the way. Sano knew that the assistant manager had to be hospitalized so the manager of the store would be in charge today. The Genome walked into the store and went back to the manga section and continued to read volume four of Chobits.

"Ki…(Seichiro, that volume of Chobits is going to bring bad luck…)" Sonson told her master with worry.

"Don't worry! Even if Chi is kidnapped, it's not like I'm going to be kidnapped reading this book." Sano reassured her.

Sonson made some monkey noises and left her master alone. She knew she was being paranoid by the book, but she couldn't help it. The Persicoms in the story are similar to the Genomes. The only major difference is that the Persicoms are welcomed with open arms while Genomes are shunned for being different.

Sonson looked in the direction of her master and was shocked that he was gone. She panicked realizing that she was right about the book. She zoomed throughout the whole store, but Sano was nowhere to be found. She sweat dropped, "Ki…(Oh shit…)"

* * *

Kousuke continued his search for Sano and his pet. The first place he checked was the hospital. He asked Rinko and Tenko if they've seen Sano. They shook their head in response. Kousuke left the hospital and checked other places where Sano could be, but he couldn't find him.

"Damnit Sano!" Kousuke cursed.

Kousuke finally decided to back track to the bookstore. He saw people moving the tree he attacked with, but no Sano. He decided to go into the store. The Celestial Being was surprised that everything else beside the windows were in one piece. He saw a different guy at the counter. The guy was shorter than the assistant manager, but seemed much more nicer and calmer. He looked rather worried.

"Excuse me." Kousuke began catching the guys attention. "Have you seen my friend? He wears a towel as a headband and brings his little monkey everywhere he goes."

The man frowned. "He's not in the back of the store?"

Kousuke glanced in the direction. Sano wasn't there. Only old people were in the back. No one was in the manga section. Kousuke shook his head.

"That's funny. I saw him there for a second and when I was at the counter helping someone, he was gone. His monkey left when it realized that he was no longer in the store. But it's rare for that boy to leave his monkey."

Kousuke frowned.

"I did check there and found this though."

The manager held up the third volume of Chobits which was what Kousuke gave Sano yesterday.

"That's Sano's!" Kousuke announced.

"He has to learn to stop dropping stuff in my store." The manager said with a sigh.

He couldn't say anymore because Kousuke took the book from his hands and ran out of the store in search for the Genome.

* * *

Sano was reading in one spot in the bookstore. After he read the part where Chi was kidnapped by some strange man, the same thing happened to Sano. He noticed the presence of the person who kidnapped him, but his reaction was too slow because he was knocked out.

The Genome woke up outside of the bookstore and away from society. The place was very dark (possibly because a storm was going to happen soon).

"How long are you going to ignore me?" The kidnapper asked.

Sano's eyes snapped open when he heard the voice. His body started shaking uncontrollably. _No. Not him!_

Sano refused to look at the person who kidnapped him. That person who killed his parents and ordered all of those Hellions to go after him. The one who caused the near extinction of the Genome race. The person he belonged to from birth-Hanon.

"W-Why are you here?" Sano questioned him trying to hide his fear in his tone, but he was failing miserably.

"You should already know the answer Sano-kun. I've come to take you back with me after all of those Hellions that I sent failed me after ten years." Hanon responded. "It's amazing that just by changing your hair color that you could hide for so long."

Sano gulped. He wasn't liking the situation. He was too far from civilization. Calling for help was out of the question. He knew Hanon very well and knew how fast he could run. Fleeing was out of the question. He could always fight the Hellion, but Hanon was one of the most powerful Hellions in Hell. The probability of him winning was incredibility low even though he was a Genome. That left one choice. Stall until Sonson could come with help.

"Do you think I'll actually come with you after all you did?" Sano questioned bitterly.

Hanon frowned. "Is that what you have to say to me after all those years? Sano-kun, don't you remember the time we spent together?"

Sano flinched. He didn't want to think about anything that happened to him in Hell. It was too painful…

"Its not like I hurt you when we were together when you were born." Hanon told him.

"The reason I didn't get hurt was because my parents were the ones that were taking the blows!"

"So you do remember after all!"

"…"

"Why think about all the bad times? Can't you remember the good times we had?" Hanon questioned.

Sano refused to answer. He couldn't call those times good even if he was treated nicely. What he was thinking about that moment was reinforcements to prevent this Hellion from taking him back to Hell.

* * *

Kousuke asked people around the street if they've seen Sano or his monkey. Most of them just shook their head. Some however were being a bitch about it and were asking why he would care for a street rat. Kousuke was rather confused on why Sano was called a street rat. Didn't he have a family or at least a place to stay?

As the Celestial Being continued down the street, he saw Sonson running toward him. Something must be up.

"KI KI! (Ueki! Seichiro is in trouble!)"

"You want a banana?" Kousuke asked. He did not understand the monkey one bit.

Sonson stops jumping and glares at the Celestial Being.

"KI! (It's that bastard Hellion!)"

"You must be really hungry. Does Sano feed you anything?" Kousuke questioned still not getting what she was trying to tell him.

"Ki! (Idiot!)"

Sonson drags Kousuke by the collar (she is hell of a strong when she wants to be) to where the Hellion took Sano.

"Guess it wasn't a banana…" Kousuke mumbled.

As Sonson dragged Kousuke, he realized that she had a worried expression on her face. He then knew that Sano was in some sort of trouble.

* * *

"Sano-kun, can you remember the time when we-"

"Shut up Hanon!"

Hanon frowned. Persuading Sano to come back to him without causing a scene was driving him crazy. He would soon use force.

"Sano-kun…do you hate me that much?" He asked in a hurtful tone.

The Genome was unfazed by the change of tone. "Of course I hate you! Thanks to you, everyone close to me is dead!"

"I wasn't the one who killed them. It was the guys that I hired that killed your family and friends." Hanon corrected.

"Cut the crap and leave me alone!" Sano shouted. He was still praying that Sonson would come to save him.

Hanon sighed. The nice talk wasn't working at all.

"I guess I have no choice…" Hanon mumbled.

He walked over to the Genome. Sano unconsciously took a step backward. He started to panic when he realized that Hanon was being serious now.

"I'm only going to say this once Sano-kun: Come with me now and I won't kill that monkey of yours." The Hellion threatened.

Sano glared at the Hellion. How dare he threaten his pet monkey!

"Screw you! I rather die than have you kill my only family!"

Hanon glared at Sano. It sent shivers down his spine technically because he can see the dark aura behind the Hellion and it was very murderous. He backed up too far that he was backed up to a tree. The Hellion still walked closer to him. Eventually, the Hellion was right in front of the Genome preventing him from escaping.

"I wish I didn't have to do this Sano-kun…" He murmured as he seized Sano's arms.

That was all it took for the Genome to tap into his Genome powers. Hanon noticed and let go temporarily. Sano's tail lit up and almost hit him in the face. Hanon sweat dropped. If that tail hit him, he would have been poisoned and there was no way to heal the poison from a Genome.

Hanon seized Sano's arms again, and made sure that his tail didn't light up again. "How long are you going to resist?" he questioned in a low dangerous tone.

Sano wanted to scream for help. Nothing came out. He was too scared to say anything.

"I see you now know whose the master and whose the slave." Hanon said with an evil grin. "I'll tell you what. If you swear to me that you'll never run away from me again, I'll spare not only that monkey but your other friends as well."

"I don't…"

"What was that boy's name again? Ah yes! Ueki-kun!"

The fear in Sano's eyes switched from fear to anger hearing the name of Kousuke. "You will not hurt Kousuke if I can help it!"

Hanon was shocked that Sano referred Kousuke by his first name. He eyed Sano. "Since when have you ever called anyone by their first name?"

Sano realized what he said and said nothing. Why did he blurt out Kousuke's first name? Sure they were friends, but…

"I guess I'm going to have to force you to announce to me that you are my slave." Hanon said in a low tone. The Hellion used his free hand to lift Sano's chin up forcing him to look directly into his eyes. Hanon's eyes glowed dark purple for a second. Sano flinched for a second before his eyes turned a shade of gold. "Tell me who your master is now, Sano-kun."

The Genome still resisted the Hellion's control over him. It took all the strength within to not speak. Hanon was losing his patients.

"I'm waiting!"

Sano couldn't fight it forever. He felt his mouth open up to speak the words. As he was about to speak, he heard someone call out his name.

Hanon clenched his teeth in anger as he jumped away from a Kurogane attack. Losing his grip resulted in Sano falling to the ground. The Celestial Being was able to catch him in his arms before that.

Sonson came running to her owner and the Celestial Being squeaking in joy that her master was saved from the Hellion. When Kousuke turned to the Hellion, he was furious.

"You bastard! What the hell did you do to him?" Kousuke questioned forgetting to keep his anger in check.

"Oh Ueki! It's great to see you again!" Hanon said with a grin.

Kousuke attacks him with his tree which Hanon dodges successfully.

"That wasn't nice. I just wanted to get acquainted with Sano- _kun_ again." Hanon said with a groan.

"What you did wasn't even close to getting acquainted!" Kousuke shouted.

Hanon frowned. "It's not nice to spy on people."

"You bastard!"

Kousuke was going to attack him again when he felt a hand on his arm. Kousuke looked at the person who grabbed him to see that the Genome stopped him. Hanon grinned evilly. "That's pretty good my slave. Stopping your friend from attacking me and getting caught by Heaven."

The Celestial Being noticed that Sano's eyes were lifeless. He glared at the Hellion who was controlling him somehow.

"That's it for today!" Hanon announced. "I'll come and take Sano back when the second round undergoes."

Before Kousuke could stop him, Hanon disappeared in that portal to Hell again. When he was gone, Kousuke felt Sano's grip loosen. He noticed that the teen fell into the unconscious state when he caught him again.

"KI! (THANK YOU UEKI!)"

Kousuke ignored the monkey's thanks. He glanced at Sano's sleeping face. He frowned, "What does that Hanon want with you?"

* * *

_Dark…so dark…this darkness feels so familiar._

" _Sano-kun, come here."_

_A four year old Sano followed his master's orders and walked over to him. He looked at the Hellion that he belonged to and showed no emotion._

" _I wanted to show you something…"_

_The Hellion walked away as the Genome followed him. He got out something that was made of wood._

" _The humans call it a puppet." the Hellion told him._

_Sano was amazed by how weird the puppet looked. "Amazing! What does it do, Hanon?"_

_"You'll see."_

_I don't know why I was amazed by a puppet because as I grew older I realized Hanon was addressing me as the puppet. He pulled all the strings and I wouldn't be able to do a thing. I guess that's why my parents sent me to the Human World._

* * *

 

Sano felt himself being shaken to wake up. He opened his eyes to see Kousuke in his face again.

"Sano, I'm glad you're awake!" Kousuke said with a relieved look.

"…Where…am I?"

"You fainted and I carried you to my house since I have no idea where you live." Kousuke explained almost repeating what he said the other day.

"Oooo. (It was so romantic.)"

Sano turned his head away from the Celestial Being. Kousuke saved him again.

"Sano," Kousuke began in a serious tone catching his attention, "why was Hanon going after you?"

Sano refused to answer his friend. It wasn't worth it to explain to him about his tragic past.

"Sano, you have to tell me, or I won't be able to protect you next time."

"I didn't ask for your protection!" Sano spat.

Kousuke was shocked by his sudden outburst. He said it with so much anger in his tone but his face didn't match his words.

"Sano…"

The Genome glanced at the Celestial Being and smiled sadly. "I don't need you getting into my life…"

Kousuke frowned. He wasn't going to budge anytime soon.

"Ki… (Seichiro…)"

"At least tell me where you live so I can drop you off." Kousuke told the Genome.

Sano's face darkened as he hid his eyes underneath his headband. Kousuke noticed that the atmosphere in the room changed.

"I…don't have a home to return to…or parents to greet me…" Sano finally confessed.

"So it's true that you are a street rat?" Kousuke asked.

"I'm sorry…"

"For what? Being homeless?"

"Dragging you into this. Hanon was the one who killed my parents, and I couldn't stay home knowing that he would hire others to capture me, so I burned my home down…so they'd lose track of me…"

Kousuke was stunned that Hanon caused Sano to suffer so much. He clenched his fist in anger. He hated the Hellion even more.

"I've been on the streets for eight years so I forgot what it was like to live in a warm house with a loving family…"

"Why…"

Sano looked at Kousuke. He was shocked that he was crying for him.

"Why didn't you tell me that you had no one or nowhere to turn to?!"

Sano avoided eye contact with the green haired teen when he spoke. "Because…anyone I get close to…will…die…because of me…"

"WHAT KIND OF BULLSHIT IS THAT?!"

Sano flinched at the yelling. He was used to people yelling and cursing at him, but coming from Kousuke was shocking.

"You're an idiot Sano! You don't have to do everything by yourself! Mori, Rinko, and me are here for you!"

"Ueki…"

"We're protect you from him no matter what!"

Sano smiled at Kousuke's declaration. While he looked happy on the outside, he was still upset on the inside. _Even if you say that Ueki, it doesn't change the fact that I'm still his slave._

"Since you don't have a home to go to." Kousuke continued. "You can stay at my place. I'm sure my dad and nee-chan will like it if you stayed."

Sano shook his head, "If I do then-"

He was cut off by one of Kousuke's stupid comments. "If you're worried about the bed then don't worry. I'll let you sleep on it. I'll probably sleep on the floor."

"Ueki! What I'm about to say has nothing to do with who gets the bed!" Sano shouted.

Sonson was glad that Sano was losing his temper.

"Then is it about the food? Or is it about where Sonson sleeps?" Kousuke asked innocently.

Sano sighed as he gave up arguing with the green haired teen. He wasn't going to hear him out.

"Still, I don't really want to sleep on the floor." Kousuke continued. "I might sleep in the bed with you, but-"

Sano's face lit up slightly.

"Then again there's only room for one of us on the bed since a certain somebody takes up a lot of the room."

Sano's blush fell as a red vein popped up behind his head, "I'm sorry if you're bed is rather small."

Kousuke quickly changed the subject. "So, are you going to change that kimono anytime soon? It looks like you haven't washed it in months."

"I'm sorry if I live on the street."

"Didn't mean it like that!"

"Just tell me where the shower is!"

"In the bathroom…"

Sano instantly stood up and speed walked toward the bathroom. Sonson made monkey noises. She was really happy that her master was getting along with Kousuke.

Fifteen minutes later, it finally donned on Kousuke that he forgot to give Sano his towel. He quickly got a towel from the closet and rushed to the bathroom not considering the fact that Sano was still in there.

"Hey Sano! You forgot your towel so I was just going to-" he stopped in mid sentence as he glanced at the Genome. His eyes widened as a faint blush appeared on his face.

Sonson hopped over to the bathroom to see why Kousuke was all nervous. She finally understood and grinned evilly. He was looking at her master's naked body. Normally she would attack a person looking at her master like that but not today. She wanted to see the expression on her owner's face.

Sano was lost in thought for a minute before realizing that the door was opened and that Kousuke was **peaking** at him! He felt his face lit up in embarrassment.

"Sorry Sano, I'll just leave the towel here and-"

"GET OUT!" Sano yelled.

Sonson laughed as the scene unfolded. Since Kousuke was still looking at her master, he flew all sorts of shit from the bathroom at him. Kousuke closed the door and left the towel at the front of it. He walked away, humiliated. He was glad that his sister didn't see what happened.

When Sano was certain that Kousuke was far away from the bathroom, he opened the door and took the towel. As he dried himself, he felt his heart beat faster than usual. He put his hand on his heart and frowned. He felt his face lit up again.

 _What is this feeling? H_ e asked himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: TBC with 6527 words! One note…
> 
> 1\. Kousuke has 10 Zai for defeating the Robert 10, but in my story he defeated another person behind the scenes having him have 19 Zai. He then loses 10 defending Ai from these thugs (manga only) and then another one for helping Sano leaving him at 8 Zai where he suppose to be.


End file.
